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Left
to right: Sandra Letton, Cliff Nordal, Dr. John Denstedt,
David Crockett, Tom Tillmann, MPP Deb Matthews, Brian Waltham,
Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco, David Fischer, Ruthe-Anne Connyngham,
Michael Smith, Father Joe Seminati
(November 28, 2003) Today, St. Joseph's Health
Care London broke ground on a major construction project at
its St. Joseph's Hospital site located at Grosvenor and Richmond
Streets in London.
The total cost of the new G.A. Huot Surgical
Centre and Diagnostic Imaging Centre, designed by architects
Tillmann, Ruth, Mocellin and contracted to EllisDon Corporation
is estimated at $32.4 million. An additional $10 million will
be invested in equipment and furnishings. Construction will
be completed by September 2005.
This project is part of a $369.5 million citywide
hospital restructuring project, which over the next five years,
will see the creation of new roles at St. Joseph's Hospital
in day surgery, outpatient treatment programs and an array
of clinics and services in an ambulatory care environment.
The
new G.A. Huot Surgical Centre and Diagnostic Imaging Centre,
currently under construction.
St. Joseph's President and CEO, Cliff Nordal
stated, "St. Joseph's Hospital is becoming the hospital of
tomorrow where the inpatient bed is being replaced with day
surgery and treatments that prevent or reduce the length of
hospital stays. Today marks another tangible step toward our
future and we are very excited. I want to thank the physicians
and staff members who worked with our planners and architects
to design this facility. They took a vision and made it even
better."
The new two-storey building will house the
G.A. Huot Surgical Centre and a new Diagnostic Imaging Centre.
The surgical centre will feature ten new state-of-the-art
operating rooms designed to primarily support the hospital's
Urology, Eye Care and Hand and Upper Limb Programs. It will
also include expanded recovery areas, a children's play area
and conveniently located waiting facilities for patients and
their families. The G.A. Huot Centre is named in recognition
of a history of significant giving to St. Joseph's by the
late Mr. and Mrs. George Albert Huot, which totaled more than
$1.4 million.
"This is a great day for surgery and anesthesia
at St. Joseph's. It represents a transition from the old operating
rooms, which are 40 to 50 years old, into a brand new facility.
It gives us more space and a much better environment for our
staff and our patients," said Dr. John Denstedt, Citywide
Chair, Department of Surgery and a Urologist at St. Joseph's
Hospital.
The new Diagnostic Imaging Centre will be housed
on the first floor of this new building. It will build on
current expertise and technology and become a virtually 100
per cent digital department. This move to digital technology
will provide numerous advantages including clearer images,
faster and more accurate diagnosis and a reduction in lost
or misplaced films.
"This is an important day for us in Diagnostic
Imaging and a landmark day for restructuring of our hospitals
in our community, " said Dr. Donald Taves, Chief, Radiology
at St. Joseph's Health Care, "This new facility will give
us a tremendous opportunity to provide state of the art advanced
care to our patients in all of the specialties here at St.
Joseph's."
Funding for this new facility is a combination
of provincial funding, health centre reserves and community
fundraising. Since 1999, St. Joseph's Health Care Foundation
has been engaged in a capital fundraising campaign to support
the construction and equipment needs of St. Joseph's Hospital.
To date, more than $6 million in designated
gifts and $7 million in unrestricted gifts have been raised
toward the Foundation's $15.8 million fundraising goal for
the construction of the G. A. Huot Surgical Centre and the
new Diagnostic Imaging Centre through gifts and pledges to
the St. Joseph's Health Care Foundation.
More than 24,000 community donors have supported
this project through major gifts, direct fundraising and special
events such as the Annual Dinner. Leadership donors include
The Corporation of the City of London, Bank of Montreal, Scotiabank,
Manulife Financial, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, surgeons
at the Hand and Upper Limb Centre at St. Joseph's Hospital,
London X-Ray Associates, St. Joseph's Department of Nuclear
Medicine and the Sisters of St. Joseph of London.
"Today's event will add momentum to our fundraising
efforts. This construction will certainly be a visible example
of this transformation - it will make our community proud
and will hopefully inspire others to join in our efforts to
improve health care in London and the surrounding region,"
said David Fischer, Chair, St. Joseph's Health Care Foundation.
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