Though the design for Moose Jaw’s new regional hospital is quickly shaping up, officials at a public meeting Wednesday night stressed that the project is still very much a work in progress.
Bert Linklater, senior executive director of operations for Five Hills Health Region, repeatedly told those in attendance that their input was valuable to designers who are finalizing plans for the facility.
“The questions that you ask and the concerns that you make are still informing these designers,” he said. “Your questions are all important.”
Linklater opened Wednesday’s presentation, the second of two events open to the public, held on consecutive nights at Moose Jaw’s Heritage Inn.
John Liguori, executive director of the hospital project, was also on hand, as were co-lead architects Andrew Flanigan of Devenney Group and Derrick Lamb of Stantec.
Liguori said the goal of the presentations was to share the progress made by the design team thus far, as well as to solicit further public input.
About 60 attendees were present on Wednesday, the majority of them middle-aged or older. Communications director Kyle Matthies reported a turnout of about 45 people the night before, primarily of the same demographic.
The new hospital will be situated on a 30-acre plot along Diefenbaker Drive, east of Main Street North and south of the Trans-Canada Highway in the city’s north-east end.
Large diagrams were set up in the banquet hall, showing detailed overhead views of the overall site and each of the hospital’s three floors, as well as four options for the design of the main entrance at the south-west end.
The plans depict a total of 72 private in-patient care beds and 43 treatment rooms, the latter including emergency care, observation and pre-admission clinic and day surgery.
In addition, there will be four operating room theatres, two procedural rooms designated for cystoscopy and endoscopy, and a final operating room for women undergoing C-sections. A helipad will be located at the north tip of the site, near the emergency and ambulance entrances.
For more information, see Thursday's Times-Herald.
