Quote:
Originally Posted by defishel
As a former employee of the hospital (may return?) whose parents have been long-time employees of this campus (mother is on 41 years working as an RN here) and a long-term resident of the area this is wonderful news! The current hospital is outdated and difficult to maneuvre in (hallways are too narrow for patient transport, etc., the layout can be confusing), hallways get freakishly hot from the sun. We really need new facilities, and with good design (go for LEED Platinum) and attractive buildings.
As well, if would be wonderful if they could put the helipad on the roof of the building, as their current method involves an ambulance to drive across the street to the helipad and back again to transport patients, when they could more easily take the patient from the roof into the building's elevator.
I do feel a bit worried about the loss of part of the Farm. The main part has older buildings and the arboretum, but the rest has it's own bucolic charm to it. In fact, one of the things I found amazing was how the farm looked from the 8th floor (we call it the 7th floor). I'm fine with the land west of Fisher being developed, provided it isn't sprawl.
I'd like to see a mega hospital like what Montreal is doing in the downtown. Build larger, taller buildings that are easy to navigate (as an employee, people get so lost trying to find wards due to odd naming and locations). What I would like to see is an emphasis on greenspace for the campus, which I think is unbelievably important for patients and staff members' health and enjoyment. There are a few outdoor spaces on the current campus, and they're dirty concrete (black) enclosed with walls all around and little sunshine.
I don't want to see surface or multi-storey parking lots, that would only mar the landscape of a beautiful, bucolic land. Put parking underground and leave the rest of the space for buildings. I don't want to see it sprawl, as the campus needs to be more compact for easy movement/ transportation of patients and staff around campus. Though I understand why making it spread out with multiple routes of egress, because the current Civic Hospital would take 10 hours to evacuate all the patients (the fire department that works at the hospital says this during their presentations).
CHUM by Shel DeF on Flickr
I would like them to demolish most of the campus, and restore the older buildings to what they used to be like (the main building has an additional floor, external fire escapes, and a "new" wing on the east side). I don't think they can demolish all of it due to some buildings being declared heritage, though their interiors are not original. But the parking garages/lots and new buildings can be demolished and either turned into residences or have something else built on the land. I think I read that they weren't demolishing the current campus, but keeping it for seriously ill patients or something of the like. The front of the old buildings should have their greenspace restored - it was only a few years ago that they tore up the grass for parking lots, so if need is reduced they should making it pleasant-looking again.
Here is what he says in the above article:
Civic by Shel DeF on Flickr
Here is an aerial of the messy campus.
Civic Hospital by Michael Bartlett on Flickr |
I'm looking forward to something similar to the CHUM hospital in MTL. Huge, modern, tall, state of the art medical centre. It would be a big change from the boring, mid-sized 70s medical centres like CHEO and the General.
Helipad on the roof of the hospital instead of across the street will definitely help make us look less ridiculous.
I agree, the old buildings, especially the original Civic should be restored to their former glory. It's just sad to see all those crappy additions over and on top of a masterpiece (new stairs in front and added floor, as you mentioned). I might also keep the oldest addition on the east side and tear down everything else on the north-east corner (other than the Heart Institute) and the new emergency.
To comment on the confusing layout of the hospital, I've noticed that institutions built before 1960 have excellent layouts. They had simple shapes ("T", "H", "V"). Hallways with rooms on each side and the nursing station at the intersections. The new buildings are a spaghetti junction of random hallways and different sized clinics and rooms. The Montfort is the best example: the original "T" shaped building is super simple. Spectacular layout! The newer buildings are a complete mess. No apparent rhyme or reason to the layout, bad connections to the other buildings.
I hope they build something based on the old way of doing things, with a simple design. And maybe, just maybe they could plan out all the expansions now so that in 50 years it doesn't look like we randomly tacked on a bunch of newer buildings without any sort of master plan. And yes, I get that as time goes by, our needs and technology (new medical equipment) changes, but we can still have a base for the expansion blueprints.