Monday marked a day years in the making, as sod was turned to officially begin the Cambridge Memorial Hospital expansion project.
“Today is an incredible day. It’s a real celebration for our community,” hospital president Patrick Gaskin told CTV News.
Local and provincial dignitaries were on hand for the event, as the province has pledged up to $220 million for the redevelopment.
That money only covers the cost of building the expansion – not of filling it with all the equipment hospital officials hope to add.
“All of our beds and equipment … that’s all private money,” said Ken Zelazny, chair of the Cambridge Memorial Hospital Foundation.
“We’re going to be doing a lot more fundraising events.”
Once it’s completed in 2019, the hospital will have 52 new beds, bringing its total to 197.
It will also have an emergency room twice the size of the current one, expanded laboratory and diagnostic imaging services, and new medical training facilities.
“We won’t be improvising. When we need space, we’ll have the space,” said Angela Bignell, a porter at the hospital who took part in the groundbreaking herself.
“We’ve always been promised that we were going to grow with the community. It’s really nice to see it actually come to fruition.”
As construction progresses, the hospital will remain in full operation.
“There’s going to be a lot of changes, which we’ll communicate widely,” said Gaskin.
Bondfield Construction is financing and building the expansion.
