A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO THE WELLINGTON ADVERTISER
WELCOME TO THE NEW New Groves hospital move went smoothly, all services now operational BY JAIME MYSLIK ABOYNE – On Aug. 9 at 6am the doors to the old Groves Memorial Community Hospital on Union Street in Fergus were closed and locked for the last time. Simultaneously the doors to the new Groves hospital on 131 Frederick Campbell St. in Aboyne opened to patients for the first time. “The thing that hit me the hardest was walking through our inpatient area and the chipped paint and the faded colours and the small rooms and sharing rooms sometimes with two other patients,” Groves CEO and president Stephen Street said of the old hospital. “In the morning that was the condition of our inpatients. “In the afternoon walking around visiting them [at the new site], seeing the smiles on their faces, their own private room, very bright windows, spacious areas, large bathrooms with showers, large TV for them, patient lift, they just were overjoyed with their new home.” However, the historical moment did not come easily. The new Groves hospital was more than a decade in the making and the Groves Hospital Foundation raised over
Dr. John Stickney, who has over 43 years of service with the hospital, had the honours of locking the ER doors at the old Groves location. $20 million dollars to make it a reality. Street said the hospital administration began moving into the new 158,000-square-foot Groves site at the Wellington Place campus a couple months ago, with administrative functions
moving first. “Early occupiers is what we deemed them,” he said. Their presence allowed the hospital staff to test some of the systems before the hospital was fully functioning with patients
and the public in attendance. Next, the health information department moved to the new hospital before the Aug. 3 civic holiday long weekend. At that point old patient records and charts moved over. The Tuesday after the long weekend is when the big moves began. “Each day a different service would be moving over and packing and unpacking and getting settled in and that allowed for a phased stabilization period for each of our services,” Street said. That left just the emergency and inpatients at the old hospital on Aug. 9 moving day. “We were staffing both facilities in parallel and by the time 6am hit, everyone was treated in the emerge department at the old Groves and our Dr. (John) Stickney who has over 43 years of service with the hospital locked the doors for the last ER shift,” Street said. “We had a number of extra staff and physicians in the system so that helped move patients through.” The hospital spent time advertising the news of the move so only individuals who really needed the emergency department were attending that weekend. The less continued on page 9 above photo by Greg Fess Photography
New Groves hospital photos by Keegan Taylor
Congratulations to the hospital administration, the board of directors of Groves, the foundation board, and the volunteers who, for almost two decades, did the fundraising and planning work to see this hospital through to completion. Thank you to everyone that has been involved with this project.
Michael Chong
“A brand new, state-of-the-art Groves Memorial Community Hospital, opening in 2020, Representing hope in these difficult days, Reminding us that a shadow, no matter how dark, Will always, in time, give way again to the light.” Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnott - August 7th, 2020
Thank you to our community!
Member of Parliament, Wellington - Halton Hills Contact Ted Arnott: ted.arnottco@pc.ola.org 1-800-265.2366