TERRACE BAY — The process to re-develop the hospital serving Terrace Bay, Schreiber, Pawgwasheeng Pays Plat First Nation and Rossport is underway.
The McCausland Hospital, built in 1980, is in the first phase of the development project.
Adam Brown, the CEO of the North of Superior Healthcare Group that runs the hospital, said the province has given approval for the planning phase of the project.
“McCausland Hospital is 42 years old and it is showing its age. We plan to rejuvenate the hospital, with the goal of giving it another 40 years of service for the community,” Brown said.
Brown said the hospital is engaged in a tender process and is undergoing the master program development phase.
That will help provide insight for the project, he added.
“It is looking at internal hospital data, that would offer insight into things such as how many visits they have to their ER by patients, and the demographics of the patients; as well as data from external data such as census data from Statistics Canada. We can make demographic projections as we look ahead several decades,” Brown said.
“Ultimately, once we get this data, we can start planning for the rejuvenation of our building to meet this anticipated demand.”
As part of the first phase, the hospital consultants have designed a survey which is designed to provide evidence to compliment the available statistical data.
"It is important because it asks respondents taking this survey to provide information about their families, and themselves," Brown said.
The survey asks people to identify what services they believe are important for the hospital to offer, and what services do they have to go out of their community to access.
“For example, the survey asks participants to identify services such as dialysis and obstetrics, to name two small examples, that they feel are important or have to access elsewhere,” said Brown.
Brown said about 300 residents have taken the survey. The next step will take place once the consultants provide the hospital with their preliminary results, with Brown saying a final report is expected in mid-January.
That final report will allow the hospital to move onto their next phase for the revitalization of The McCausland Hospital.
This next phase says Brown, “will have us go onto a phase which will be more detailed planning.”
