Hospitals in KW

[westwardloo]

Who decided that the new hospital needed 50 acres of space?

What was the rationale given?

we all know the answer is parking lots.

[ac3r]

Generally people drive to hospitals so that isn't surprising. The majority of staff drive as they come from all over the region - sometimes from other cities. Patients and visitors tend to drive as well because if you're sick, injured or have a test then the last thing you want to do is miss your MRI or whatever because the bus can't make it up a hill in the winter or something.

Nonetheless, they could still fit in the same parking as required if they just built a garage or underground parking centre. There's no excuse for needing sprawling parking lots. But I guess 50 acres does future proof it by giving them a lot of usable space for expansion when it's needed.

Sometimes vehicles are just necessary.

[panamaniac]

Who decided that the new hospital needed 50 acres of space?

What was the rationale given?

we all know the answer is parking lots.

The new Ottawa Hospital is on a bigger site and the first stage of construction, now underwayl, is an enormous parking garage.

[ijmorlan]

Who decided that the new hospital needed 50 acres of space?

What was the rationale given?

we all know the answer is parking lots.

That in no way leads to the 50 acres number. We have the technology to stack parking lots on top of each other. The Pearson Terminal 1 parking lot, among the largest parking lots on the entire continent, only covers about 10 acres of land. You could almost build Terminal 1 itself on 50 acres.

[westwardloo]

we all know the answer is parking lots.

The new Ottawa Hospital is on a bigger site and the first stage of construction, now underwayl, is an enormous parking garage.

Ottawa gets fancy new things because it is the Nation's capital. I would not expect the regions hospital to be as nice as the New Ottawa Civic hospital. unfortunately, I highly doubt they are planning a parking garage for the Regions new Hospital. The more information I hear about the potential location more I would prefer they just build large additions to the existing hospitals. Buy the old CTV building and the sunlife parking lot, create an agreement with Sunlife that you will replace the lost parking spaces with in the parking garage of the new Hospital. We will never be able to replicate a central location like exists at GRH.

[panamaniac]

The new Ottawa Hospital is on a bigger site and the first stage of construction, now underwayl, is an enormous parking garage.

Ottawa gets fancy new things because it is the Nation's capital. I would not expect the regions hospital to be as nice as the New Ottawa Civic hospital. unfortunately, I highly doubt they are planning a parking garage for the Regions new Hospital. The more information I hear about the potential location more I would prefer they just build large additions to the existing hospitals. Buy the old CTV building and the sunlife parking lot, create an agreement with Sunlife that you will replace the lost parking spaces with in the parking garage of the new Hospital. We will never be able to replicate a central location like exists at GRH.

Most people in Ottawa would raise an eyebrow - the Province is seen as forgetting that we are part of Ontario!

I've wondered why an expanded K-W Hospital site couldn't be considered.  Construction could be staged and you'd end up with a location that's as good as if not better than anything else being considered.

[Rainrider22]

That is how they are doing Trillium in Mississauga. Stages, and then building at tall hospital on the same site. It is 24 floors and right on their new LRT line...

[danbrotherston]

Lol...this is exactly what I said like 5 days ago. There's plenty of space around the existing hospitals for expansion. This new hospital is political, more than practical, IMO. But there's probably also an aspect of "we aren't good at stuff" too it too...where building a whole new thing is easier than actually doing that kind of incremental work.

As for Ottawa's perception...certainly provincially they're ignored right now, because of the intense animosity between the provincial and federal governments. But they do get attention from the federal gov.

[westwardloo]

Ministry of health is now saying it is the search committee and Grand River Hospital that has created the 50 Acres minimum requirement. I am starting to become very sceptical about the whole thing. I feel like there is something fishy with this site search. Someone came up with 50 acres to stop certain better sites from being chosen. A 25 acres site could easily support future expansion.  The site location has probably been known before they even created a search committee. Someone is going to make a lot of money putting this out near Costco in Waterloo. 

https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...5f26d.html

[danbrotherston]

FWIW...I agree, but I also don't really trust provincial officials, it could easily be the province who is lying/ignorant here.

[tomh009]

The article says the ministry recommended 50 acres--and then the hospitals decided to make it a hard requirement.

[Rainrider22]

Ministry of health is now saying it is the search committee and Grand River Hospital that has created the 50 Acres minimum requirement. I am starting to become very sceptical about the whole thing. I feel like there is something fishy with this site search. Someone came up with 50 acres to stop certain better sites from being chosen. A 25 acres site could easily support future expansion.  The site location has probably been known before they even created a search committee. Someone is going to make a lot of money putting this out near Costco in Waterloo. 

https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...5f26d.html

I suspect you are correct.  This location will not serve the resident of Kitchener well in emergent situations.  It is one thing to drive there for a surgery or otherwise, but an E run by ambulance this far away,  you can bet the number of on board deaths will rise.

[panamaniac]

Then it’s up to Kitchener residents to work for a result that works for them. The lack of public action to influence the decision is remarkable.

[Rainrider22]

I have been doing my part !!

[ac3r]

Honestly we need a new hospital so damn bad I could deal with it not being that close to the core. It's not ideal, but sitting around arguing about parking lots when our hospital is seeing multiple code surges each month - meaning there are zero beds available - is putting actual people at risk. At the end of the day most people going to a hospital are going to drive. Nobody is taking a bike to their day surgery or chemotherapy appointment. If you need proof of this, just go to the hospital. Count the number of bikes you see locked up outside. It's very little.

I don't think there is some sort of conspiracy about this so people can "make a lot of money putting this out near Costco in Waterloo" either. It's more a case of having a limited amount of space to use that would not require a significant investment and alteration to become adequate. Like, sure, there's lots of space around the current hospital, but do you have any idea how much work it would be to navigate the headaches of land purchases, rezoning, demolitions and construction to use it? Or how much it would actually cost to tear The Aud down? Those sites are desierable, but will be costly to utilize which...when it comes to state run health care is something you need to worry about.

I want to see it built in a great location like The Aud or R+T Park. But I'd also rather see a new hospital sooner than later, even if that means it's next to Costco. Keep in mind, they wouldn't be shutting down any of the existing hospitals anyways and they are (if I am remembering correctly) still going to provide emergency care, so the health care resources would only improve for our region regardless of where it is built.

I'm involving myself in the discussion about the project, especially as a professional who does this stuff all the time and am crossing my fingers they make the best choice we can by putting it somewhere sensible, even if it becomes costly. But I'm also just wanting to see us finally build another hospital. We need it now more than ever, especially with the population boom of our region and the nation as a whole. Otherwise, we risk an ever deteriorating health care situation which - as the pandemic demonstrated - doesn't take much to begin fracturing it. 2020-2022 saw us doing incredibly desperate measures from the military building field hospitals in parking lots, sending in soldiers as nursing staff and tempting the government/voters with considering more privatization.