Planning team asks community to help shape hospital

While the opening of a new Collingwood General and Marine Hospital (CGMH) is some years off, residents of communities that will be served by the facility are being asked now for their input.

At a visioning session at Station on the Green in Creemore on Tuesday evening, members of the Construction Planning Team displayed images from other hospitals throughout Ontario and asked residents to indicate what they liked and what they didn’t.

Director of construction Siobhan Bout said there is considerable opportunity to influence the hospital design at this stage.

“The Ministry of Health will regulate the size of the hospital, but in terms of layout, the pieces inside will be driven by what the care teams and users need,” said Bout.

Participants in the visioning session were invited to place coloured dots and/or sticky notes on the display boards indicating what they’d like to keep or fix. The boards will be returned to the architects to inform the eventual design.

VP of hospital development Cathy Renaud said similar sessions have been held for hospital staff, as well as the public in Collingwood and Wasaga Beach. Future sessions are planned for Blue Mountains and Thornbury.

“We want to see what resonates with people here,” she said. “Is it a stark white, clinical look, or something with lots of colour and greenery? How much wood do they want to see? My hypothesis is that people up here like the outdoors, but we’ll see what the feedback is.”

She said one person at the Collingwood session said, “Just don’t make it look like an airport.”

Once all the feedback is gathered and analyzed, the architects will create specs to put the work out to the market.

The Collingwood General and Marine Hospital Foundation is working toward a $100 million fundraising goal. Foundation President Sandra

Taylor said while the ministry will fund the majority of building costs, the foundation is responsible for furniture, fixtures and equipment.

“We have commitments for over $73 million so far,” she said. “People have been talking about a new hospital for 10-plus years but fundraising officially kicked off when the project was approved last December. We suspect that the goal may creep over the $100 million. We have some time, but the last half is always the toughest.”

Clearview Township councillor Phyllis Dineen worked at the old CGMH for most of her career, and has seen many changes.

“I hope that the new building will be utilitarian without a lot of wasted space like a huge atrium,” she said. “Hopefully there will be lots of windows and welcoming spaces that will be comfortable for people on dialysis and chemo who are spending a lot of time there.”

Creemore resident Nadine Melemis works at Headwaters Health Care Centre in Orangeville. She wants to see a focus on things that improve the patient experience.

“It has to be highly accessible and easy to get in and out of,” she said.

Her husband Gary Walters, who spent several days at South Lake Regional Health Care centre earlier this year, noted that he was encouraged to take lots of walks around the floor.

“The corridors were wide but there were staff clustered around computers creating obstacles,” he said. “It was hard to do the walking without feeling like I was in the way. Hopefully the new Collingwood hospital will favour function over form.”

Learn more about plans for the new CGMH at yourfuturehospital.com.