2021-03-31

Bridgewater hospital expands another parking lot, adds new access road

by KEITH CORCORAN

While initially slow to get off the ground, the redevelopment of Bridgewater's hospital is forging ahead at a steady pace, and includes another parking lot expansion, a new access road and establishment of a four-bay ambulance garage.

Workers will be on the southwest end of the South Shore Regional Hospital property March 30 to cut trees and prepare for culvert installation prior to a new emergency-vehicle-only access road being built, and the addition of up to 80 new public parking spaces. Culvert preparations and tree clearing is expected to take a week to finish.

The focus of the initial work takes place along Glen Allan Drive near the helipad and The Daisy thrift shop, which are both on hospital property. The new road, designated for police, fire and paramedics, will wrap around the southern end of the 12-hectare site.

Rob Zwicker, a western zone health services director and Bridgewater hospital site leader, said work continues on how parking is managed and handled. With a new entrance bound for the southern side, more places to park are necessary.

"It won't affect the Daisy parking spaces; there may be temporary delays as we have to cordon off certain sections to do the work," Zwicker told LighthouseNOW in a phone interview.

There also are no impacts expected with the take-off and landings of the air ambulance chopper.

The new access road "will actually have a positive impact on how we manage our patients to LifeFlight," Zwicker noted, as ground ambulances won't have to leave hospital property to navigate to the chopper as they do now.

The access road to the expanded and renovated emergency department (ED) and ambulance garage will also remove the bottleneck at the current entrance to South Shore Regional Hospital. As well, it means patients arriving by ambulance will be unloaded with more privacy and out of the outdoor elements.

Work on the ED, endoscopy and day surgery units, the physical plant, and the addition of a dialysis unit and MRI are part of a $112 million-plus project. The work was announced about a year ago.

Final details about the ambulance garage will be released soon, Zwicker said. The new road and parking lot is expected to finish this summer.

"The expansion with the programs that are involved will be good for all of us in this area for years to come," Zwicker added.

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