Ford reaffirms $9.8-million investment towards new hospital in Windsor-Essex
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is reaffirming the province’s commitment of $9.8 million for a new mega hospital in Windsor-Essex.
The government pledged $9.8 million toward the new Windsor-Essex mega hospital in its 2021-2022 budget in March.
Ford was in the region on Monday to announce details of the funding.
“It’s a great day for Windsor-Essex,” says Ford.
The funding is to support planning for the new acute care hospital. Ford says once complete, the new hospital will add more hospital beds and expand services for the region to ensure individuals and families living in the region have access to high-quality care when and where they need it.
“The people of Windsor-Essex have waited too long for a new hospital that suits the needs of this growing community,” says Ford. “This new hospital means they can get the care they need, closer to home.”
Once complete, the province says the new hospital will consolidate and expand acute care services, replacing outdated infrastructure with high tech facilities and supporting better, connected care in the region.
Planned services will include cancer care, complex trauma, obstetrics, neurology and cardiology. The new hospital is expected to have more single-patient rooms to increase patient privacy and prevent the spread of infection.
Urgent care and outpatient services will remain at Windsor Regional Hospital’s Ouellette site to preserve access for patients and their families in downtown Windsor.
“Investing in hospital infrastructure projects like the new acute care hospital in Windsor is a key part of our government’s plan to build a modern and connected health care system and end hallway health care,” said Christine Elliott, Minister of Health. “This investment for this new acute care hospital will provide better access to care closer to home for patients and families in Windsor and Essex County, and the infrastructure and tools our health care workers need to continue delivering exceptional care.”
As part of the planning for the new hospital, about 68 acute mental health beds are expected to be transferred to Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare to improve mental health and addictions services and programs for the people in the area.
These beds will support a new Centre of Excellence in Mental Health and Addictions for the region.
“We have been hard at work filling urgent gaps in care and addressing the extensive wait times for services across Ontario’s mental health and addictions system,” said Michael Tibollo, Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions. “At the new Centre of Mental Health Excellence, clients will be able to access effective and safe services through a single-entry point, making it easier to receive the high-quality care they expect and deserve.”
Ford also took a tour of the Windsor vaccine centre located in Devonshire Mall on Monday morning.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Christine Elliott at the vaccination clinic at Devonshire Mall in Windsor, Ont., on Monday, Oct. 18, 2021. (Angelo Aversa / CTV Windsor)
The premier was last in the region on Sept. 21, when he visited the Wheatley explosion site.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.