Work at Valley Regional Hospital continues

By Patty Mintz

Inside the main entrance to Valley Regional Hospital, where blood collection and admitting are found, it is obvious a project of significance is underway. Tarps, bare lights, exposed wires and workers in hard hats can be seen moving about with purpose.

Built in 1991, portions of the facility are being upgraded to meet the standards that modern health care and privacy demand of it, says Jan MacKinnon, director of public affairs, Annapolis Valley Health.

Ultimately designed to provide space for more hospital beds, the work have been on the go since last January and will probably continue for another four or five months.

Yet, like most construction projects – whether on the highway or inside public buildings -- the word that comes to mind is ‘interminable’.

“It seems like it’s been going on forever,” bemoans a gift shop volunteer.

The grumbling of the annoyed and restless rippled through the crowd during a recent blood collection morning as people sat and waited for their number to be called. One woman who had been waiting for some time complained, “My doctor sent me over here, but look at this! I’ve already missed two other appointments I had.”

MacKinnon says blood collecting and admitting are being reconfigured to meet new standards of confidentiality and the way information is gathered, and things will go smoother upon completion.

And things aren’t happening just on the main floor. Upstairs, where finances, human resources, classrooms and the chapel were located once, there is more work going on.

Given the overall project, worth about $11 million dollars, will ultimately result in bumping up the number of hospital beds to 21, the inconvenience is worth it, says MacKinnon.

“We have all but nine beds already open at Valley Regional,” she notes. “In order to get new beds in, we had to get people out. We needed 35,000 square feet of space so a number of services were taken out,” she says, referring to the relocation of upper offices as well as the community programming portion of mental health and addiction services to the Chipman Building in the Kentville Industrial Park where Annapolis Valley Health’s corporate offices are also now located. Valley Regional continues to provide mental health inpatient beds. The chapel is being moved to another area on the third floor, where it was originally located.

In the meantime, says MacKinnon, “We still have an active chapel program with regular non-denominational services.”

Part of the reason for this project is to get all of the components of the medical units together. When the work is done, the medical unit will be on the second level. That means ambulatory care and oncology are going to the third level where the old board room and finance services used to be.

Inconvenience aside, “We’re really excited about all the redevelopment that’s happening.” In a separate project, the ER will be expanded and its space redesigned to meet changes in practice and confidentiality.

Details on that project will be announced, notes MacKinnon.