St. Michael's Hospital is the latest Toronto care facility to embark on a major 21st-century overhaul.
The centrepiece of the new St. Mike's, following hard on the heels of the
Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute built last year just north of the main building, is an 18-storey tower that will extend the Cardinal Carter wing down to Queen Street.
A request for qualifications, the first step in what hospital officials figure will be a five-year process, went out last week.
"We needed more space," says Robert Fox, the hospital's vice president of planning and development. "We are absolutely packed as a hospital. I think we have the greatest density of any hospital in Ontario.
“We have patients in old wings, wings that are as much as 85 years old. Those wings were designed back when care was different and we have some struggled with maintaining capabilities around technology, flows, hallway clutter, things that are really restricting our ability to operate at the best of our capabilities."
Fox added that the emergency room, built for 36,000 visits a year, currently handles about 74,000. The emergency room, also part of the development plans, will remain in operation throughout the process.
The new tower will be going up on what is now a parking lot, garbage area and loading dock at Queen and Victoria. The project as a whole is expected to add about 154,000 square feet to the hospital.
The upgrade will allow the hospital to undertake major renovations in the existing building, including an expansion of operating rooms and rationalizing an often confusing layout.
"We'd love to have one front door instead of six back doors," Fox says.
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Robert Fox
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