Construction of fourth OR is underway at NHH
NHH Fourth OR Construction - Radlett Foundation Representatives visit NHH. Photo courtesy of Northumberland Hills Hospital Foundation.
By: Cecilia Nasmith, Northumberland 89.7 FM News
Cobourg
Thanks to generous community support, a fourth operating room is now under construction at Northumberland Hills Hospital.
This was one of the key priority's of the NHH Foundation's recent Exceptional Community, Exceptional Care campaign that concluded successfully last fall with the announcement of $26.3 million raised in fulfillment of the largest campaign goal in the county's history.
The new OR is made possible through the generosity of Bill Humphries and the Radlett Foundation, and a landmark in its progress was the excitement over the July 5 weekend when a new air-handling unit was lifted by crane to the hospital roof. In addition to cleaning and conditioning the air temperature and humidity, this unit will allow the new OR to function as a negative-pressure space – which will afford an opportunity to expand the hospital's respirology services and perform such procedures as bronchoscopies.
“We are immensely grateful to the late Bill Humphries and the Trustees of his Foundation for their support of our campaign and, in particular, the fourth OR,” Chief Executive Officer Rhonda Cunningham said in the announcement.
“Support from the Radlett Foundation totals $3.4 million, and this incredible display of philanthropy is helping support our hospital in bringing visionary projects, advanced technology and new services to our community.
“We are excited to be at a point now where many of the projects we talked about throughout the campaign are completed, underway, or set to begin.”
Hospital President and Chief Executive Officer Susan Walsh added that NHH is in a period of growth, “focusing on enhancing the core services that we offer today, while laying the groundwork for the additional capacity we know our community will need in future.
“At its core, NHH is a hospital that remains vibrant, thanks to the support of generous donors, like the late Bill Humphries, who are critical to our ability to invest in large-scale capital projects.
“We sincerely appreciate the Radlett Foundation's exceptional support for our surgical services enhancement. We also applaud the work of the NHH Foundation, whose success is helping to drive many key projects forward in tandem with the needs of our growing and aging community.”
Future stages of the construction process will include reconfiguration of change rooms, building and equipping the new operating space, renovations to the Post-Anesthesia Care Unit to allow for the support of additional patient volumes, and preparing the space for operational readiness.
“The future of our surgical program is an exciting one,” Chief of Surgical Services Dr. Andrew Stratford commented,
“The addition of a fourth OR – and a negative-pressure one at that – will help us to attract and retain talented medical professionals who are looking to work with the latest and best technology.
“In addition to allowing us to increase our current local and regional surgical capacity, it creates an opportunity for us to explore bringing new surgical services to the area.
The new OR is anticipated to be operational next summer.
Additional projects funded by the Exceptional Community, Exceptional Care campaign include replacing both the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) scanners, adding a SPECT CT, as well as redevelopment of the Pharmacy, Laboratory and Medical Device Reprocessing Department. For more information on how to support the funding of these projects, contact Cunningham at 905-377-7767 or rcunningham@nhh.ca
