Hospitals in KW

[bravado]

UW lands would be way to far away for the majority of the population.  Remember, this will be the only emergency hospital.

I agree with you, but also Cambridge General will cover some south Kitchener people. (By car)

That LRT station nearby has suddenly become a much bigger deal.

Does anyone know if UW expected this land to house more tech businesses that never materialized? Or is this just kinda unused rural land?

[westwardloo]

It is on the west end of the site, mostly along Bearinger. https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...9c61e.html

Not a horrible location, still think the Aud was the best location, but I understand that this is a political/ future thinking location. UW is hoping this will spark a huge investment in Medical Technology at David Johnson Park. Plus sets UW up for a potential for a Medical Department. 

I am surprised this doesn't include the whole block along Wes graham Ave, Seems like those tenants could easily find other office space to lease in 5 years.

[CP42]

Here it is folks:

[cherrypark]

UW lands would be way to far away for the majority of the population.  Remember, this will be the only emergency hospital.

The only emergency hospital, but at least GRH is staying as urgent care. I would hazard a guess that a lot of emergency use today is effectively urgent care, though I recognize ambulance drive times are potentially more what you mean.

[westwardloo]

Not loving the initial footprint, but I am sure they didn't pay too much for a couple of white dashed lines haha. 

From an accessibility standpoint. This location is not that bad. Only a 6min drive from the highway and 10-15min walk from the LRT station. I wonder if there is any consideration to connect Laurelwood drive to Wes Graham ave.

[Rainrider22]

UW lands would be way to far away for the majority of the population.  Remember, this will be the only emergency hospital.

At least it's near our rapid transit; if that were not a factor it would be horrible.

In an emergent situation, it's access for an ambulance  Time is everything.  And consider this, as the only hospital with an Emergency room,  almost all your ambulances will be sitting at the north end of Waterloo waiting to off load patients.  So when they respond to your call for service,  they will have all that additional travel time to get to kitchener.  Utterly ridiculous.  Waterloo residents will be great.  Think about this. By the time the time the hospital opens, the population of Kitchener could be near 400k, that means all those people need to travel so far for emergent care...

[KevinL]

I wonder if there is any consideration to connect Laurelwood drive to Wes Graham ave.

It's on the long term plans - hence the stub on the Laurelwood roundabout - but the Laurel Creek valley is environmentally sensitive so it's taking time.

[danbrotherston]

I wonder if there is any consideration to connect Laurelwood drive to Wes Graham ave.

It's on the long term plans - hence the stub on the Laurelwood roundabout - but the Laurel Creek valley is environmentally sensitive so it's taking time.

They're trying to figure out how to justify more car infrastructure through environmentally sensitive lands...."For the hospital" is a pretty good strategy.

[westwardloo]

I wonder if there is any consideration to connect Laurelwood drive to Wes Graham ave.

It's on the long term plans - hence the stub on the Laurelwood roundabout - but the Laurel Creek valley is environmentally sensitive so it's taking time.

I think it would be a critical piece of infrastructure for the new hospital and should be completed before the hospital is built.  The more ways to get in and out of the hospital will be key to keeping emergency transportation times down.  If there is an accident at Westmount and Bearinger that connection will save precious minutes.

[ijmorlan]

I think it would be a critical piece of infrastructure for the new hospital and should be completed before the hospital is built.  The more ways to get in and out of the hospital will be key to keeping emergency transportation times down.  If there is an accident at Westmount and Bearinger that connection will save precious minutes.

Or, we could not act like complete idiots and keep more than one ER in KW.

As a UW person, I like the idea of having a hospital on University land, and the idea of moving in the direction of having a medical school, but the idea that anybody thinks one ER, especially in such a northerly location, is enough in a city of this size, is shocking.

[the_conestoga_guy]

I think it would be a critical piece of infrastructure for the new hospital and should be completed before the hospital is built.  The more ways to get in and out of the hospital will be key to keeping emergency transportation times down.  If there is an accident at Westmount and Bearinger that connection will save precious minutes.

Or, we could not act like complete idiots and keep more than one ER in KW.

As a UW person, I like the idea of having a hospital on University land, and the idea of moving in the direction of having a medical school, but the idea that anybody thinks one ER, especially in such a northerly location, is enough in a city of this size, is shocking.

I thought this came up earlier and it was noted that GRH will be keeping its emergency room. Maybe I'm mistaken, though, because I can't remember the source for this.

[Rainrider22]

Or, we could not act like complete idiots and keep more than one ER in KW.

As a UW person, I like the idea of having a hospital on University land, and the idea of moving in the direction of having a medical school, but the idea that anybody thinks one ER, especially in such a northerly location, is enough in a city of this size, is shocking.

I thought this came up earlier and it was noted that GRH will be keeping its emergency room. Maybe I'm mistaken, though, because I can't remember the source for this.

It has always been the plan to shut the emergency department in both St Mary's and Grand River..always the plan and it has been reviewed as correct on here.   I just Wazed to see how long from my house in the Lackner Woods area to where the new hosptial woud be.  Between 18 and 24 mins depending on route.   I will be faster to go to Cambridge

[the_conestoga_guy]

I thought this came up earlier and it was noted that GRH will be keeping its emergency room. Maybe I'm mistaken, though, because I can't remember the source for this.

It has always been the plan to shut the emergency department in both St Mary's and Grand River..always the plan and it has been reviewed as correct on here.   I just Wazed to see how long from my house in the Lackner Woods area to where the new hosptial woud be.  Between 18 and 24 mins depending on route.   I will be faster to go to Cambridge

I believe this is where I pulled the info from: "The midtown Kitchener-Waterloo Campus would be transformed into an ambulatory and urgent care centre." 

https://futureofcaretogether.ca/site-sel...-hospital/

I think I confused ambulatory with emergency care... but to be honest I'm not entirely sure what the difference if from a user perspective. It seems GRH is where you'd go if you don't expect to be admitted into care, but still need immediate attention? Whereas the UW hospital will be for emergency visits where you expect to be admitted into inpatient care?

[dtkvictim]

It's on the long term plans - hence the stub on the Laurelwood roundabout - but the Laurel Creek valley is environmentally sensitive so it's taking time.

I think it would be a critical piece of infrastructure for the new hospital and should be completed before the hospital is built.  The more ways to get in and out of the hospital will be key to keeping emergency transportation times down.  If there is an accident at Westmount and Bearinger that connection will save precious minutes.

Aside from the location combined with the decision to close other ERs, as others mentioned, having a larger impact than this piece of road, shouldn't Colombia to Hagey Blvd be just as good of an alternative to Westmount/Bearinger for all trips except for a small subsection of Laurelwood?

Even if it's the right choice to build the road for the hospital, it still sucks to put a road through well used greenspace on environmentally sensitive lands.

As an aside, it's kind of silly to think I'll be close to a 20 minute drive to an ER... while living directly downtown, basically the geographic center of KW.

[KevinL]

"Ambulatory care" means walk-in patients, it's very much non-emergency. "Urgent care" is closer but still not quite the same.