Repurposing former Truro hospital not deemed viable
Ongoing maintenance costs exceed $1 million in seven years
TRURO, N.S. – Since shutting down the former Colchester Regional Hospital seven years ago, the provincial government has spent more than $1 million maintaining the facility.
The hospital, which dates to the early 1960s, closed on Nov. 25, 2012, when patients were transferred to the new Colchester East Hants Health Centre.
Since then, there have been numerous suggestions as to what to do with the facility, a subject that was revisited during the recent Truro and Colchester Chamber of Commerce candidates' debate at the Dalhousie Agricultural College in Bible Hill. The question was put forward as a citizen submission pertaining to local infrastructure.
“Now, I think, personally, it would be a perfect spot for more long-term care beds,” Conservative Party candidate Scott Armstrong suggested.
“Imagine a facility right here on that spot, close to the highway, close to our new regional hospital, if we repurposed that or if we built a new facility there using federal, provincial and municipal money, all working together, we could be the centre of this for Nova Scotia.”
Armstrong also tossed out the idea of using such a facility as a training centre for continuing care.
“Just think what we could build if we worked together,” Armstrong said. “The property is the perfect location. The infrastructure is there if we can repurpose it but the location is perfect, right here in the central part of Nova Scotia. That is what I would like to see down there.”
Liberal Party candidate Lenore Zann also supported the concept that more longterm care beds are required in Nova Scotia.
“With an aging population we need more long-term care because it is holding up the system in the hospitals, in the ambulances, we know this. So that is something that is very, very vital,” she said.
But repurposing the former hospital would not be the best way to achieve that objective, she suggested.
“It needs to be torn down. It is full of asbestos, it’s old, it’s damp, it needs a lot of work,” she said.
That perspective was backed by WSP Global Inc., a company hired by the provincial government to conduct an assessment of the former hospital.
“Their findings indicated that the original structure and early additions do not meet today’s standards and would require significant modifications that would exceed the cost of deconstruction and the purpose it was built for,” said Marla Macinnis, spokesperson for the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal.
Macinnis said the engineering consultant will be assisting with decommissioning the site and determining the next step in dealing with the facility. No timeline was provided on when those next steps may occur. If the building were demolished, Zann said the former hospital site would be a good spot to construct a new justice centre to centralize the local provincial, supreme and family courts.
“We need to invest in a new justice centre and if I am elected as your MP I would work with the province to make that happen,” she said.