Between 60 and 70 per cent of Ontario’s emergency department closures occur at facilities operated by the North Shore Health Network, specifically at the Thessalon and Richards Landing locations. This startling statistic is driving a local group of physicians to push for a new central Algoma hospital as the solution to a long-standing problem. Officials from the network have confirmed they are leading the work toward an amalgamated facility, a direction they say makes sense given the current state of the two sites. Dave Murray, Chief Executive Officer for the North Shore Health Network, described the physical limitations of the existing infrastructure. “The facility on the island is over 100 years old. It doesn’t have an elevator. It doesn’t have a lot of the things that, you know, it could not meet hospital standards today, without spending an inordinate amount of money to bring it up to grade and very similar in Thessalon,” he said. Attraction and retention of medical staff remain among the critical issues in the North Shore. Murray believes an up-to-date facility can help address this challenge directly. “Good diagnostics, things like a CT scanner, good lab, you know, things that can support a physician who’s working in that emergency department,” he said. “Right now, they don’t have those types, that infrastructure, those services that really make it not ideal for physicians.” Familiar path The area’s Member of Provincial Parliament, Bill Rosenberg, is a former mayor of Thessalon and noted that amalgamation has worked in the region in recent history. “When we look back at when they first built the inaugural Algoma school, right there, there’s definitely some emotions that are tied up in that. But it worked out very well, so.” Road ahead The new hospital campaign is currently in a “pre-capital” phase of what is described as a multi-step process. Those leading the effort are gathering data to make their case to the province’s Ministry of Health, which will need to approve and endorse the initiative. Murray gave CTV News a tentative timeline for the project. “Hopefully the analysis can be done within, you know, 12 to 18 months,” he said. “By the time you break ground, a couple of years to build and, you know, hopefully we could be cutting the ribbon on a new place three or four years from now.” Updates on the project can be found in the ‘Future of Healthcare’ tab on the North Shore Health Network’s website.
