Just over $1.7-million dollars in infrastructure funding has been announced by the provincial government for Timmins and District Hospital.
President and CEO Kate Fyfe welcomes the $1,737,354, saying it will help move forward with major projects like elevator maintenance and an upgrade to the pharmacy area.
“We also will be able to replace of our windows and repair the skylight that you see along the main corridor,” Fyfe outlines, “and we will be putting it towards our roof replacement maintenance strategy.”
Fyfe is still hoping for capital funding for improvements to the emergency department. It was designed for 20,000 patients a year, when TADH opened 30 years ago. Fyfe says last year, that number hit 44,000.
“We are needing to move forward with an expansion of our emergency department as well as renovation of the existing.”
Fyfe explains that the increase is not directly related to the physician shortage. She says there’s a higher prevalence of chronic disease in the north, and patients coming in are often more acute – in other words, sicker.
