Sod turned for new $25.5m Pugwash hospital

Watching Transportation and Active Transit Minister Lloyd Hines turn the sod for a new hospital was a sight for sore eyes to longtime Pugwash physician Dr. Brian Mcfarlane.

The minister recently kicked off construction of a new $25-million-plus healthcare facility that will replace the aging North Cumberland Memorial Hospital, which was first opened in 1966.

The hospital will include primary, urgent and outpatient care as well as laboratory and diagnostic imaging services, outpatient clinics like physiotherapy and short-stay inpatient and palliative care for residents of the Pugwash area.

Construction is expected to begin soon and be completed by 2024 by Avondale Construction Limited.

It was a promise first made in 1999 by the former NDP government of Darrell Dexter and repeated several times by the Liberal government of Stephen Mcneil.

Mcfarlane is pleased to see that promise fulfilled.

“It's a very special day, both from the perspective of the amount of work the community has put into this and the ability of this community to have an up-to-date facility both for the day-to- day care as well as for the recruitment and retention of health-care professionals in all disciplines,” Mcfarlane said following the ceremony.

For some in the community, there were fears the hospital would never be built after being delayed for various reasons over the years. Mcfarlane said he understood the frustration of the community, but was confident the day would come if the community continued its work.

“The short answer is yes, I knew this day would come, but not without a fair bit of persistence and patience,” Mcfarlane said.

“It was a case of making sure we kept pushing ...”

The minister said the wheels of government sometimes move slower than people want, but projects, like the Pugwash hospital, move forward.

“We're spending more than $25 million on this project. It's a tidy sum for this community,” he said. “When we put a similar hospital in Guysborough close the 30 years ago, which is much like this facility, it was $6 million.”

David Farley, a former Pugwash village commissioner, has followed the project from when it was first promised more than a decade ago.

“I'm absolutely delighted, it's been so long in coming,” he said. “This hospital is so important to this community. Without it, along with doctors, small rural communities can't survive. If you really want to ruin a small community, take away its hospital and its school.”

Paula Bond has followed the project for several years as the vice-president of the Nova Scotia Health Authority, working with the community and government to move the project from concept to reality.

Bond, who is now the associate deputy minister of Health and Wellness, said the project is all about community persistence. It's also a nod to the hard work of healthcare staff working in a facility that needs replacement.

“For this facility, it had its heyday, and the staff who have continued to provide the best quality care they deserve the best facility we can possibly give them to come to work,” Bond said. “I'm very excited for them.”