Project pending permit: Hospital plans to begin $11 million construction, next week – Ontario Argus Observer

ONTARIO If all goes as planned, Saint Alphonsus Medical Center- Ontario plans to begin its $11 million remodeling project mid next week.

Plans to remodel a section of the hospital was first announced at the end of October 2016 and will soon be on its way to realization with a completion date set for summer of 2018.

The hospital will be finishing a pre-existing shell space that was built in 2002 and remodeling a 15 bed medical/surgical floor and former operating room area. The end result will be a 27 bed medical surgical unit and a six bed critical care unit.

Since the announcement was made, Ken Hart, president of Saint Alphonsus Medical Center-Ontario, said crews have been working on demolition and clearing out the pre-existing shell space for the last six months.

Previously, the shell space served as a storage unit for a number of years, where medical records were kept as well as office furniture and a number of other items. Since then, medical records have been shipped off to a Saint Alphonsus storage area, Hart said.

Interestingly, Hart added, the project will include remodeling three sections each which were built in different years into one unit. The shell space was built in 2002, while the operating room was built in 1959 and another section was built in 1995.

Once the project is completed, it will allow patients to be cared for on one floor, rather than two floors, which is the current status.

By placing patient rooms on one floor, Hart said it will allow the hospital to increase its efficiency and enhance the quality of care for patients.

Other improvements include modernized rooms with adequately sized bathrooms and noise-softening materials.

Some of our current patient rooms have a shared bathroom, which tends to be a patient dissatisfier, Hart said. When the remodeling is complete, each patient room will have its own private bathroom.

After the 27 bed medical surgical unit are completed, the plan is to eventually move surgical patients from the second and third floors to the newly renovated space. After patients are moved from the current surgical unit, the space will then be remodeled into an intensive care unit, Hart said.

We want to ensure each patient who enters through our doors is well cared for and has the highest quality of care possible, Hart said.

The project is said to be the final phase of a facility master plan, which was developed when the hospital became part of Saint Alphonsus Health System and Trinity Health in 2010.

Within the last seven years, over $50 million has been invested in Saint Alphonsus Medical Center - Ontario, which includes the construction of the Fruitland and Ontario Health Plaza and the remodeling of the maternity center inside the hospital.

After this phase of remodeling is complete, every patient room in this hospital will be brand new, Hart said.

Dan Cummings, community development director, said the remodeling of the hospital is quite the investment for the community.

Its a huge benefit to the community to have an updated hospital, and hopefully, it may attract doctors to live in this area, Cummings said. Those are the economics I see in this project. It also doesnt hurt to have an updated hospital. Nobody wants to drive 60 miles to get the care they need.

Cummings said a permit for Saint Alphonsus to begin construction is still in the review process, but plans are to hopefully issue it in the middle of next week.

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Project pending permit: Hospital plans to begin $11 million construction, next week - Ontario Argus Observer