Construction on the new Groves Memorial Community Hospital will be completed by mid-2019 if all goes according to plan, Wellington County council was advised on May 26.
In an update at the May meeting, Wellington Health Care Alliance president and CEO Stephen Street told council tender documents for the construction of the hospital have been submitted to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care for approval.
Street said the 10,000-page request for proposals was approved earlier by the by building committee, hospital board and Infrastructure Ontario.
Once the ministry approves the submission the hospital corporation will move on to hiring a team to design, build and finance the new hospital. Street said the bidding, evaluation, negotiation and award process is estimated to take 12 months and construction should begin in mid-2017.
Street told council it is expected to take another 24 months to build the facility.
The CEO thanked council for the county’s support for the project and noted it would not have been possible to reach this stage “without the hard, dedicated work of the building committee members.”
Laurie Arsenault, executive director of the Groves Memorial Hospital Foundation, told council, “The ten million dollars we received from the County of Wellington has truly been instrumental in what we’ve achieved to date.”
She added the county’s additional $5 million commitment to the new hospital is integral to attaining current fundraising targets and noted $9.1 million has been raised toward a $20-million goal through a total of 48 donations.
“We’re very encouraged by the support we’ve received from the community to date,” said Arsenault. “We know that the community is very excited about the hospital and they’re anxious to see that shovel in the ground.”
Arsenault also acknowledged the recently-announced commitment of the Groves Hospital Volunteer Association to raise $1 million over 10 years for the new hospital.
She explained campaign organizers have set targets for obtaining a certain number of donations of varying amounts.
“We’ve been very successful in securing gifts at the $250,000 and $100,000 level,” said Arsenault, adding “a very generous donation from the Wellington Advertiser,” will allow the foundation “to provide some recognition opportunities” for donors.
Warden George Bridge said the hospital would be a major asset to the entire region.
“It’s going to be a real plus to have it in Wellington County and Centre Wellington,” said Bridge.
“From an economic development point of view I can tell you without the hospitals, we can’t grow.”
