Work continues at hospital
Lab services now on summer hours
The tender for the work to install a sprinkler system in the New Waterford Consolidated Hospital has been awarded to Brilun Construction of Sydney.
Lynn Gilbert, public affairs officer with the Nova Scotia District Health Authority, said the contractor is now on site preparing the unit for the installation, as phase one of the project gets underway.
Planning is also underway for work in the operating room area.
In a press release from the health authority, the last day for surgeries was July 8. During the installation work, access to second floor will be restricted. Options are being explored for the storage of supplies, equipment, furniture and technology during phase one.
Gilbert said the work will continue through into September. She said walk-in services will remain the same.
“Some offices and services did relocate to allow for the installation.” She said the diabetes education centre is now located on the first floor of the hospital.
“We are also going to have any of our visiting specialists or any clinics that would normally run on the second floor, they were going to use the ambulatory care department in the hospital during phase one of the installation,” Gilbert said.
“However as far as the walkin services, people can still go to the lab to get their blood and specimens collected and done and can still go to the diagnostic imaging for their x-rays and can still go to the emergency department or CEC to get care.”
Residents are asked to note the walk-in lab collections service is now on summer hours. These hours are 8 a.m.- 12:30 p.m., Tuesday to Friday. Summer hours for the hospital’s lab drop-off service are 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Tuesday to Friday.
On June 29,13 patients were moved from the medical unit at NWCH to Unit 3B, a temporary acute care unit/service at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital, in preparation for phase one of the project to get underway. Gilbert said the transition was smooth.
“We can’t thank everyone who was involved with that enough, from all the departments and their staff who helped with the move and supporting the move and the physicians who continue to care for their patients while they are on 3B and especially the medical unit staff. They went above and beyond to make sure everything was smooth for the patients and their families and also EHS as they transferred the patients from New Waterford to the Regional Hospital. We can’t thank everyone enough, it was a great team effort to get everybody in place with as minimum disruption as possible.”
The district health authority says people can still visit residents on Waterford Heights, NWCH’s long-term care unit. Offices and appointments for nurse practitioners, mental health and addiction services and public health services are not impacted by the project.
The health authority says updates will be shared with the public as the project progresses.