Photo Courtesy
	Pavilion K.

The Jewish General Hospital (JGH) is hoping to undertake construction in the fall of a brand new pavilion to house its long-awaited new emergency department.

The ER at the Jewish General Hospital, a McGill University teaching hospital, is currently “bursting at the seams.”

It will likely be transplanted in late 2012, hospital and Quebec officials announced recently. Pavilion K will be located on Legare Street, immediately behind the hospital’s existing E and H pavilions in the Cote des Neiges district.

The JGH is one of Quebec’s largest and busiest acute-care hospitals in Quebec in terms of adult stretcher patients.

Designed to handle 38,000 patients a year, the JGH now receives some 70,000 visits annually. The last ER overhaul goes back to the mid-1990s.

The ER treats “twice as many patients of more than 75 years of age as any other Quebec teaching hospital of comparable size,” affirmed Hartley Stern, the hospital’s general manager.

The green light has been given to the initial phase of what was described as a four-phase modernization project for the hospital, which remains committed to improving the quality of healthcare for all Quebecers in partnership with the provincial healthcare network.

The building will feature a state-of-the-art ER department, designed and equipped to meet the critical care needs of Quebec patients well into the 21st century.

Unlike the current ER, the 20,349 square metre Pavilion K will be much more spacious and will feature individual rooms, all the while preserving patients’ privacy, dignity and safety. The number of beds will remain at 53.

“In addition to ensuring modern and functional facilities for health-care professionals, it will promote accessible, high quality and safe care for the benefit of the local population,” said Pierre Arcand, member for Mont-Royal, Minister of International Relations and Minister responsible for La Francophonie.

Four phases

Phase 1 will feature a state-of-the-art emergency department to address wait time and patient flow issues faced by ERs throughout the province. The three other phases will add operating rooms, a new intensive-care unit, coronary and cardiac-care units as well as a birthing centre and a neonatal ICU.

The hospital’s administration hopes to have a groundbreaking ceremony before the winter ground freeze sets in, said the executive director of the Jewish General Hospital, Dr. Hartley Stern.

Rather than adopt the PPP model, the project will be managed by the hospital itself and contracts for the first phase will be given to various contractors to minimize risks and benefit from the lowest cost.

The value of the project ranges from $120 million to $300 million. The Quebec government has committed $93.9 million to the plan and remains committed to supporting this long-term project. The Jewish General Hospital Foundation has committed $25.9 million to the construction of an underground parking garage in the fall.

The JGH has 637 beds and serves patients from Montreal, from other parts of Quebec and from around the world.

[Source : Cyberpresse and The Gazette]