The interim leadership at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance discussed their commitment to redevelop Wallaceburg’s hospital during a meeting held with the media on Wednesday.
Despite some recent security measures taken to block off the second and third floors of the Sydenham Campus, Ken Deane, the interim CEO of the CKHA, says this does not reflect any changes to their dedication towards the Wallaceburg site.
“I have to emphasize that doesn’t in any way signal a change in our commitment to the Sydenham Campus,” he said.
“That’s an integral part of our organization. It’s an important part in terms of our rural health strategy. The Wallaceburg site is an important organization for us. We’re looking at making sure the facility itself is maintained and then identifying the opportunity to redevelop that site in what I’ve called affordable building packages, that the Ministry can work with, that we can put together some plans and have a longer range plan for that site. So, the plan is to redevelop and to support (the Wallaceburg) site.”
Deane said the CKHA is looking into what other services could be located at the Sydenham Campus to fully optimize it.
“To extend our impact in rural health and to extend the services that are available, that can be provided closer to home,” he said.
“We’re really pleased about having the Sydenham Campus as part of the Alliance and we’re looking forward to things we can do to enhance that site and broaden its impact in the community.”
Security audit at Sydenham Campus
Rob Devitt, the provincially-appointed supervisor for the CKHA, said security concerns were raised by staff in Wallaceburg and through building inspections.
“We needed to deal with it, but we also wanted to find a way to perhaps strengthen it,” Devitt said.
Deane added the meeting room on the second floor will be relocated down to what was the old cafeteria at the hoispital.
“We’re creating what we’re calling a community space,” he said. “So it will be available for meetings that outside groups can book. We still want to have access, but we want to make sure that we protect our staff, our facility and visitors by moving that to our main floor where there is traffic. That’s the major change.”
Deane said the services at the Sydenham Campus are currently and primarily located on the first floor of the Wallaceburg site.
“That’s where we have our ER and our in-patient beds and other services,” he said.
“The second floor had a meeting room on it and the third floor was empty. Looking at that, we thought we need to make sure the second and third floor are safe and secure, so we had our staff do a security audit.
Deane added: “The last thing we wanted to do was somebody to get trapped up there and get there and not be there legitimately. So we’ve decided to lock off the second and third floor because the only people that need to be there are security and maintenance staff. The doors will be locked, the elevator will be controlled for security and maintenance.”
Devitt said creating this new community meeting space is just a first step.
“A small step maybe, but a first step.”
Long-term planning process starting soon
Devitt said a detailed planning process for both the Chatham and Wallaceburg sites will be starting soon.
“We will fairly soon be able to start a more robust planning process to figure out those packages that Ken referred to,” he said.
“The long range vision for that campus, but also for this campus (in Chatham.) Manageable sized projects that we can afford as a community and the Province of Ontario can afford as well. We hope to start that planning process with consultation fairly soon into the New Year.”
Deane said some substantial investments will be required, both in Wallaceburg and Chatham.
“Based on our estimates, and these are high level estimates prepared by our facility staff, we need to spend about $12 million dollars per site over the next five years to make sure they are meeting current standards,” he said.
“You always need to reinvest. ”
Devitt added: “That is just the basic. That is sort of the ‘under the hood’ stuff that you don’t really notice when you walk into a hospital, but is so integral to its function.”
Watch for more coverage stemming from Wednesday’s meeting on the Sydenham Current.
– Photo credit: Aaron Hall
