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New health centre welcomes its first visitors

Paul Landry, Executive Director of the North Bay Regional Health Centre project, looks out on the site where the centre will be built. People have started to visit the new North Bay Regional Health Centre even though construction hasn’t begun.


Paul Landry, Executive Director of the North Bay Regional Health Centre project, looks out on the site where the centre will be built.

People have started to visit the new North Bay Regional Health Centre even though construction hasn’t begun.

Curious residents of the area were invited to the site off Highway 17, to get an idea of what the 720,000 square foot, $218 million project will look like once it is open for business.

“The concept of walking through the plan and the site is a great idea,” Nipissing-Temiskaming MP Anthony Rota said, who came out to the site to take a look for himself.

Rota believes that being able to tour the site will help people “visualize” what the finished product will look like.

“It lends to the concept of well being,” Rota said.

“It will help people feel better mentally.”

Paul Landry, Executive Director of the North Bay Regional Health Centre project agrees.

Landry explained that during the design phase of the project, the well being of patients and eliminating the fear that is associated with entering a hospital were a top priority.

“The days of building a concrete box are gone,” Landry said.

He explained the 275 beds for the general hospital would be housed in four wards.

“Were going to follow a four seasons idea,” Landry said.

Landry explained that the four wards would display colours and symbols related to each season, which he believes will make the building more “user friendly.”

The new health centre will also have a “main street” running through it, to increase accessibility to all areas of the centre.

“Flow is so important,” Landry said.

“It’s designed around people flow.”

Providing natural light was also a top priority during the design process. Three of the seven operating rooms will have windows with a view of the escarpment, and 16 of the patient’s rooms will have their windows strategically placed east, were the most light can shine in.

Landry believes that providing natural light will help boost moral of the centre’s patients and it’s employees.

The Centre will also have it’s own co-generation plant, that will burn natural gas to produce electricity.

Landry explained that the plant will allow the centre to go “off the grid” when electricity prices are high.

“We will be flipping on and off the grid,” Landry said.

Landry explained that the co-generation feature would represent $800,000 in savings.

The Centre will also be the first in Canada to combine both a general hospital and a mental health centre. This will also save money because the two hospitals will be able to share services such as maintenance, housekeeping and Food preparation.

Landry said the mental health centre would be a “village of interconnected houses.”

The mental health hospital will house 113 beds, with a forensic ward and a specialized long-term care program.

“It’s on the leading edge of mental health reform,” Landry said.

He explained that the mental health patients will live in “college residence” style housing that will allow them to live in a natural home setting and help them learn life skills.

“It’s not an institution anymore,” Landry said.

“It’s not an asylum.”