Oakville hospital opens doors for tours

STORY BY ROSS ANDERSEN

The main entrance to the hospital.

Oakville’s newly built, state-of-the-art hospital attracted thousands across the community to have a first-hand-view of the facility last weekend.

The 1.6 million-square-foot Halton Healthcare hospital serves Oakville, Milton and Halton Hills and has been five years in the making.

“There is much more room in this hospital for expansion, as the communities around us expand,” said Hannah Kirk, patient care manager, in the emergency department.

Three different tours were given in the hospital, showcasing every aspect of the hospital. “The emergency rooms are three times larger than in our current site,” said Alex Pedersen, junior communications specialist.

More than ten years of planning has gone into the project.

“The exciting and challenging part is opening one hospital and closing one on the same day,” said Pedersen.

State-of-the-art CT scanning machine.

Oakville’s new hospital was built to accommodate the region’s aging population. The tour expected to bring in more than 3,000 visitors on Saturday.

“All of the departments have worked together to make this tour the best it can be. We’ve been preparing for this tour since July,” said Pedersen.

The hospital relies on 7,447 windows to provide light. Being economically friendly is important to the hospital’s values.

Some of the features of the hospital include discreet nurse-patient clinical rooms.

“The polarized doors leading to the room provide complete confidentiality between the nurse and patient. Liquid crystals line up and provide visual privacy for those in the room,” said Kirk.

The rooms also provide sound privacy and cleanliness, because there are no curtains to clean. With the click of a switch, you regain vision in the room.

“We designed this hospital with having patient care in mind, their experience here is important to the hospital’s success,” said, Sandy Saggar, chief information officer.

For those patients with family or visitors, the intensive care unit provides them with pullout beds, a kitchenette and showers.

Intensive Care Unit rooms in the emergency department.

“Patients really appreciate having their family members with them, especially if they’re nervous,” said Barbara Parker, surgical daycare nurse.

The hospital has a direct entrance from the emergency room connecting to the garage. This way, paramedics waste no time transporting patients from the ambulance to the ER.

Cleanliness is a key part of the hospital’s mission. There are 1,775 hand-sanitizing stations in place throughout the hospital to prevent the spread of bacteria.

“Having new equipment and advanced technology, the patients experience will dramatically improve at the hospital,” said Kim McWilliam, an ICU intern.

The doors to the hospital will open on Dec. 13.