With Phase IV renovations expected to get underway sometime this year at La Verendrye hospital here, the St. Mary’s Parish Rectory has been purchased by Riverside Health Care Facilities Inc. to be turned into space for health care services.
The rectory—first built in 1960—will house Riverside Community Counselling and Valley Diabetes Education Centre, which currently are located to the southeast and east of the hospital, respectively.
Those buildings, in turn, will be sold off and moved, or demolished, once the hospital renovations begin, Ed Cousineau, Riverside’s manager of engineering services, said Tuesday.
“We need to make way for more parking,” he remarked. “Parking is always a big concern at the hospital.”
Work on the rectory began Monday. “There’s not a lot of work to be done to bring it up to code,” noted Cousineau. “Most of the work is superficial.
“We haven’t really got a timeframe, but we want to get it done before July 1,” he added.
The renovated rectory will be used for office space and client treatment, and will entail adding fire doors, fire exits, a handicap-accessible washroom, and handicap access, plus cosmetic changes like flooring and new paint on the ceiling and walls.
St. Mary’s Parish will continue to occupy four offices and a reception area located on the upper floor of the north side of the building.
Meanwhile, Cousineau said he couldn’t comment on how soon the hospital renovations would begin. Riverside CEO Wayne Woods was unavailable for comment as of press time.
But it previously was reported that Woods was hopeful to see a shovel in the ground sometime this spring or summer.
It originally was thought work could get underway by last December, but hospital administration and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care have had to meet numerous times to work out the details of this extensive project.
The $8-million-plus job—initially estimated at $5.5 million before the ministry’s recommendations—will include improvements or total overhauls to the X-ray department, emergency room, operating rooms, and lab.
The expansion also would include re-locating the dialysis unit, which has been operational at La Verendrye for about 10 months, and possibly a computerized tomography (CT) imaging unit, which has the ability to image a combination of soft tissue, bone, and blood vessels.
The extensive overhaul—which could take 18 months to two years to complete—will be funded by both the Riverside Foundation for Health Care’s “Care Close to Home” campaign and provincial government.
The work, which will be done in phases, is not expected to disrupt medical care to patients.
(Fort Frances Times)
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
