Emo hospital construction to be wrapped up by new year

The Emo Health Centre will be fully open and operational by February, the CEO of Riverside Health Care Facilities Inc. said Saturday.
“As an update, I’ll tell you contractors have promised me they’ll be done by Christmas, after which there will only be a few odds and ends to work on,” Wayne Woods told those on hand for the “Care Close to Home” Christmas fundraiser gala in Emo.
Woods added staff then will be cleaning up, and setting up equipment and other furnishings, during the first two weeks of January.
“The hospital will be open to some patients by the end of January,” he noted. “Then it will be fully open by February.”
The upgraded facility will include 15 beds–12 long-term care and three acute care. Come February, the long-term care ones will be filled by patients who were at the hospital prior to $3.3-million renovation project, which began in May.
Woods noted that despite some public outcry from families of patients six months ago when they heard their loved ones would have to be moved from Emo hospital for the duration, the situation during the renovation has been “positive.”
“The patients seem to be very happy during their stay,” he said, noting most were moved to La Verendrye hospital in Fort Frances while a couple of others went to Rainy River and Kenora.
And Woods added those same patients and families likely will feel the renovations were worth the wait. “I think they’ll be extremely happy with the results,” he said.
“The first thing most people will see is the new entrance. And the outside of the building in general has received quite a bit of work, with a new roof and windows,” he noted.
“And once they get on the inside, they’ll see a lot more,” he remarked.