[SteelTown]

Sign of change going up at St. Joe’s site
New state-of-the-art mental health facility not expected to include urgent care centre

By Mark Newman, News Staff

News
Nov 27, 2008

Putting up a sign is normally not a big deal. But for officials at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, the planned unveiling of a new sign at 10 a. m. Nov. 29 to mark the multi-million dollar redevelopment of their 35-hectare (87-acre) Mountain campus at Fennell and West 5th is a huge step forward.

“It’s a landmark for us in terms of moving ahead with the rebuild,” Dr. Robert Zipursky, chief of psychiatry and vice-president for mental health services at St. Joseph’s health-care Hamilton, said of the former Hamilton Psychiatric Hospital redevelopment.

Ontario Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, George Smitherman is expected to be on hand for the unveiling.

Dr. Zipursky said the new 301-bed hospital (there are 215 beds there now) will be a state-of-the-art mental health care centre offering a variety of in-patient and outpatient programs and services in an open and accessible environment.

However, despite other media reports, the new facility will not be providing urgent care services to the community.

“There are no plans to have an urgent care centre based at this site,” said Dr. Zipursky, who noted some other services such as specialty medical clinics and diagnostic imaging— X-rays, CT and MRI scans — are planned for the new hospital.

Dr. Zipursky said the existing buildings on the site, which date back to the late 1950s, are no longer adequate for providing the kind of mental health services St. Joes wishes to offer.

He said he sees the new hospital as a major teaching facility for doctors, nurses, social workers and other mental health professionals.

“This will be the central site for training for mental health care in our region,” said Dr. Zipursky, who noted mental health matters can no longer be hidden away out of sight as one in five adults are affected by some form of mental illness each year.

In addition, the new facility is expected to be a leader when it comes to research in a variety of mental health areas including depression, anxiety disorders and addictions.

“We are planning to have extensive resources to support mental health research,” Dr. Zipursky said.

Functional planning work to determine the number of beds, clinics and other services to be provided at the new hospital is well underway and should be completed by the end of this year.

Dr. Zipursky said St. Joes will put out a request for qualifications for a design architect next spring and they expect to select a design architect and construction consortium by the end of next year.

The cost of the project and look of the new building will be determined in this phase. Construction should begin in early 2010 and be completed by 2014.

The existing hospital will be torn down once the new facility is completed, Dr. Zipurksy said.

[SteelTown]

St. Joe's plans 300-bed Mountain hospital
Protesters say spend money on people, not buildings

December 01, 2008
Paul Morse
http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/475068
St. Joseph’s Healthcare has unveiled redevelopment plans for a new mental health hospital and campus on the grounds of the historic former Hamilton Psychiatric Hospital.

But unionized health care workers, who staged a noisy rally at the unveiling of a new sign for the campus Saturday, argue that the province is building new facilities while simultaneously preparing for layoffs and program cuts.

Hamilton New Democrat MPP Andrea Horwath, who joined the union protesters, said infrastructure renewal is an important part of the health care system, “but the system itself won’t operate without workers.”

As the economy continues to struggle, she said, the government cannot address those problems “on the backs of workers and on the quality of service they deliver.”

A new 300-bed, 900,000-square foot hospital will replace the current Centre for Mountain Health Services, which will be demolished and rebuilt in phases over  the next several years. The hospital will be part of St. Joseph’s 55-acre campus on the Mountain site at Fennell and West 5th.

“This is one of the most exciting projects I’ve been associated with in my career because it has the potential to change how we treat the mental illness, the fastest growing illness with the greatest burden in Canada,” said St. Joseph’s president and CEO Dr. Kevin Smith.

It will be a total rebuild of the site “bringing a brain science campus to this community,” he said, adding  the cost of the facility will be determined by Infrastructure Ontario based on tenders.

The new 300-bed hospital will include outpatient clinics, diagnostics, mental health and addiction services and brain science research laboratories.
‘“It is the only major site in the city for significant future redevelopment,” Smith said. “I think it is a future health care campus.”

St. Joseph’s is in talks with the province over remaining 25 acres of the former HPH grounds, he said. There are preliminary concepts for health care education partnerships with Mohawk College and a conference centre for historic Century Manor.

St. Joseph’s must deal with a $12-million budget shortfall, Smith said. “Probably of the $12 million, $8 million has to be related to labour,” he said.

The hospital will have to look at operating room standardization, including surgical equipment supplies.

“The other will clearly be efficiency of paid hours, but there is no poor performer that we’d say is an overworked hour area.”

Hamilton Centre MPP Sophia Aggelonitis said the hospital redevelopment provides economic  stimulus.

“You’ve got to invest in people, infrastructure and innovation,” she said.
Aggelonitis said Queen’s Park and its public sector workers are “at the table talking and that the government has a good and respectful relationship with OPSEU.”

But Ontario Public Service Employees Union Local 206 spokesman Ed Zacharewski said St. Joseph’s is being underfunded by the government, and will impact the hospital’s workforce.

“It is getting about 2 per cent increase when their costs are about 5 per cent a year, leaving them with a significant deficit,” he said.

“That’s playing out in cutbacks in services and layoffs.”

[SteelTown]

St. Joe's redevelopment plan open to public

August 20, 2009
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/621461

The public can learn today about a redevelopment plan that aims to make the West 5th campus of St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton the regional leader in mental health.

People can ask questions, see drawings of the complete project and talk to those involved. The architects, St. Joe's staff and provincial government representatives will be on hand.

The redevelopment, to be completed in 2013-14, will expand outpatient clinics for mental health and addiction services, diagnostic imaging and medical care, and research and academic spaces.

The open house is in the main cafeteria on the campus at 100 West 5th St. between 5 and 8 p.m.

[SteelTown]

Conceptual Renderings

http://www.stjoes.ca/west5/

[SteelTown]

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a382/hammer396/StJoes.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a382/hammer396/StJoes1.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a382/hammer396/StJoes2.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a382/hammer396/StJoes3.jpg

[SteelTown]

St. Joe's unveils Mountain mental-health plan
2014 opening for new treatment centre

September 22, 2009
Dana Brown
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/639328

It will be a new multimillion-dollar facility, set to reflect how views about mental health and addiction have changed.

The new West 5th Campus of St. Joseph's Healthcare won't be buried at the back of its site at Fennell Avenue West and West 5th Street as the old Hamilton Psychiatric Hospital was, but is expected to be visible and up front.

It will house 305 beds, but will offer a variety of general and specialty outpatient clinics and will continue to serve the surrounding communities of 2.5 million people.

"Our goal is that it really should ... bring about a transformation in how our community sees mental health and addictions and how they access care for mental health and addictions," said Dr. Robert Zipursky, chief of psychiatry and integrated vice-president for mental health and addiction services for St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton and Hamilton Health Sciences.

Zipursky is also chair of psychiatry at McMaster University medical school.

The psychiatric hospital, which became part of St. Joe's in 2001, will be torn down, but there's been no decision about the other structures on the property.

Zipursky said it is expected that of the thousands of people visiting the site each year, most will be treated as outpatients. There will also be fully developed diagnostic imaging services, like MRIs and ultrasounds.

"We felt it was very important that it not just be a hospital for people to come to with mental health and addiction problems," he said.

"It's important to break down the barriers between treatments for mental illnesses and treatments for other medical illnesses."

Kevin Smith, president and CEO of St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, said the facility will be a "huge plank" in the regional mental health program for this part of the province.

"It'll be transformative in terms of the kinds of services we can provide, the environment we can provide them in and the opportunity to bring clinical practice, research, education and consumerism together in a very unique model."

Zipursky said that, in the past, mental health problems were regarded as rare and patients might end up hospitalized for years or decades.

But now, hospital stays are shorter and mental illness is seen as more common.

Zipursky said one in five adults experiences a diagnosable mental illness every year and the same number of kids will experience a mental illness during their childhood.

"Unfortunately, mental illness and addictions have been shrouded by overwhelming stigma ... and we're now able to appreciate that ... (they) are no different from any other type of disorder that doctors treat that involve other parts of the body," he said.

For the most part, programs currently being offered at the site will continue while construction takes place. Once the new facility is completed, they will move over and the old hospital will be torn down.

The project is being funded primarily by the provincial government, but the hospital will also be putting forward a substantial contribution.

Zipursky said cost of the project will be established through the competitive bidding process.

The three qualified bidders that will vie for the project were recently announced. Requests for proposals will now move forward and ground is expected to be broken late next year or in early 2011.

The project is expected to be completed by 2014.

[urban_planner]

It wuld have been nice to have the parking near the back instead of right out on west 5th. maybe due to the N.E.P. they can't do it.


Anyway still looks good.

[SteelTown]

Short-listed teams invited to bid on St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton West 5th Campus

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/December2009/17/c3159.html

TORONTO, Dec. 17 /CNW/ - Infrastructure Ontario and St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton have released a request for proposals (RFP) to companies short-listed to design, build, finance and maintain a new campus at the West 5th Street site.

The new hospital will provide larger, more modern facilities to better support people and families struggling with mental illness and addiction. The campus will also provide diagnostic imaging and medical outpatient services, along with research and academic spaces.

The new West 5th Campus will target Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver standards, which focus on healthy indoor environments, reduced greenhouse gas emissions and efficient use of energy, water and other resources.

The three short-listed companies are:

- Carillion Health Solutions: Carillion, HOK Architects / Montgomery Sisam Architects, Vanbots and Carillion Services;
- Integrated Team Solutions: EllisDon Corporation, Fengate Capital Management Ltd., LPF Infrastructure Fund, Parkin Architects Limited /architects Tillmann Ruth Mocelin, EllisDon Construction, Johnson Controls and CIT Financial; and
- Plenary Health: Plenary Group / Innisfree, Cannon Design, PCL Construction, Honeywell Limited - Facilities Management and Meridiam.

"Our government is committed to giving Ontarians and their families the kind of high level healthcare that they expect and deserve. I'm pleased to see a big step in that direction for the people of Hamilton," said Deb Matthews, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care.

A request for qualifications issued in March 2009 short-listed the three teams with the development, design, construction, financial and facilities management capacity to undertake a project of this size and complexity.

"Today's announcement marks another step toward greater access to health care in Hamilton," said Sophia Aggelonitis, MPP for Hamilton Mountain. "By improving health care infrastructure, we are putting the foundation in place for modern service delivery in our local hospitals."

"This project provides a unique opportunity for innovation and transformation in the way mental healthcare is viewed and experienced," said Dr. Kevin Smith, President and CEO, St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton. "The new campus is a continuing example of St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton's strong tradition of integrating excellence in clinical care with innovative medical research and education."

Once submissions to the RFP are received and evaluated, the successful project team will be selected and announced in fall 2010. A copy of the RFP is available on Infrastructure Ontario's website.

Infrastructure Ontario and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care are working with St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton to develop the new hospital, which will remain publicly owned, publicly controlled and publicly accountable. Infrastructure Ontario is a Crown corporation dedicated to managing some of the province's larger and more complex infrastructure renewal projects - ensuring they are built on time and on budget.

Visit www.infrastructureontario.ca for more information.

[SteelTown]

I hope it's the second group EllisDon Corporation and Parkin Architects. EllisDon build some of the greatest projects in Canada and Parkin did a fabulous job with David Braley Cardiac Centre at the General.