New Falls hospital will still provide regional services
It may no longer be called south Niagara hospital, but the new Niagara Falls site will still offer regional services.
“There will be regional services, servicing all of Niagara, specifically south Niagara,” said Mayor Jim Diodati. “There will be services we have they don’t have in St. Catharines. This will definitely be a regional hospital, and that’s going to … bring in the resources to draw and create the critical mass so that we can have that level of health care we’ve never had before.”
Politicians, health officials and other dignitaries gathered Monday at Montrose and Biggar roads to unveil a sign confirming the site as the future home of the new Falls hospital.
Eric Hoskins, minister of health and long-term care, also announced Monday Well and hospital will remain open, offering 24/7 emergency services, and an extensive list of proposed services that will be discussed by the province and Niagara Health.
During the past five years, plans for Welland hospital progressed from closing the facility completely, to building an urgent care centre where the existing full-service hospital now stands, to maintaining the hospital.
The original plan was for a new south Niagara hospital to be built on the outskirts of Niagara Falls, creating a centre of excellence with consolidated services to complement the new north Niagara hospital in St. Catharines, replacing the five aging hospitals in Welland, Port Colborne, Fort Erie, Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Suzanne Johnston, president of Niagara Health, said nothing has changed when it comes to the planning for the new Niagara Falls hospital, expected to be built by 2023.
She said the new sign replaces south Niagara with Niagara Falls because it’s “more representative of what people were interested in hearing.”
“We heard from people that they didn’t like that name (south Niagara hospital), so what we’ve decided to do is look at the nomenclature right across Niagara, so Niagara Health — St. Catharines site, Niagara Health — Niagara Falls site, Niagara Health — Welland site.”
Johnston said it’s still unclear what the cost of the new Niagara Falls hospital will be, however Diodati has said it will likely be about $1 billion. She said it’s also yet to be determined whether a new hospital will be built in Welland, or if the services will just be maintained at the existing site.
Hoskins echoed Johnston’s comment about the new Niagara Falls site.
“Nothing has changed in terms of the build for the Niagara (Falls) hospital, for this site,” he said. “This is a hospital for the Niagara region.”
Hoskins referred planning-related questions to Niagara Health.
Diodati said he initially questioned why the new sign says Niagara Falls instead of south Niagara, and Niagara Health officials explained they prefer to attach the community’s name to sites.
“In the same way that they refer to the Niagara north hospital as the St. Catharines site, this will be the Niagara Falls site,” he said.
Niagara Falls NDP MPP Wayne Gates said he’s always referred to the project as the Niagara Falls hospital, understanding there are other communities involved.
“We still have to make sure that Niagara-on-the-Lake is taken care of when it comes to health care, and we have to make sure what we’re going to do with the hospital in Fort Erie,” he said. “Those type of discussions still have to go on.”
Gates said he has long maintained a need for a new hospital to replace the aging Greater Niagara General Hospital in Niagara Falls.
“In Niagara Falls, we have the greatest nurses, the greatest doctors — they do the best they can with the equipment they have. But the reality is, it’s finished, it’s an older hospital, it has to be replaced, so let’s make sure we get this done.”
He said it’s important for construction to begin as soon as possible, and for local construction people to work on the project.
“Where we are with the income in this community is at the low end of the scale in the province of Ontario. This is an opportunity to create some really good paying jobs for 3½ to four years.”
Gates said health officials have told him it’s something they would also like to see happen.
“They’d like to work with me to help that happen, too, which I think is a lot more positive than it was before.”
According to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, the new Niagara Falls hospital will provide health care to more than 434,000 people through state-of-the-art facilities designed to meet the region’s changing health-care needs.
Patients will have access to emergency and urgent care, laboratory services, ambulatory clinics, and full diagnostics including MRI, CT scans, ultrasounds and X-rays.
The hospital will also feature traditional healing spaces and will continue to facilitate Niagara Health’s role in educating medical and other health professionals.
When complete, patients will also have access to general surgical services; a regional stroke program; seniors’ wellness and aging programs; breast-screening services; integrated chronic disease management programs; mental health and addictions programs; and outpatient services for children, youth and adults.