Grey Bruce Health Services celebrated the official opening of its recently completed expansion to the Saugeen Memorial Hospital in Southampton on Thursday, June 20th.
Phase one of the expansion project is a 10,000 square foot new Emergency Department, which opened in 2018. Phase two, completed earlier this year, is a 6,000 square foot renovation to the hospital’s laboratory.
“I am delighted to celebrate this milestone with our community, and to publicly recognize and thank everyone who helped us create such well-designed, beautiful new departments to diagnose and treat residents and visitors to the Saugeen Shores area,” said Maureen Solecki, Interim President & CEO.
The Saugeen Memorial Hospital Foundation raised $1.8 million for the expansion, $562,500 of which came from Bruce Power. Bruce Power representative Chris Mercanti attended the celebration, along with elected representatives, Foundation and Auxiliary members, donors, staff, and physicians.
The new ER is more than double the size of the previous ER, with nine treatment rooms, a new waiting room, a dedicated decontamination room, and an ambulance bay that can accommodate four ambulances. The renovated laboratory is three times larger, and is built to meet strict new standards for environmental safety and infection control, with modern temperature and humidity controls to protect lab specimens. All nine washrooms in the renovated space are now accessible.
“We had long outgrown our old ER, and we needed a well-equipped, organized space to deliver safe, effective care,” said Dr. Dave Billings, Chief of the Southampton Hospital ER. “Now we have room to work, we can offer patients far more privacy and our modern facilities will help attract new healthcare providers to the area.”
The Southampton Hospital ER treats about 17,000 patients per year, and more than 13,000 patients register for lab work annually.
