The new Sault Area Hospital is 91 percent constructed.
Many of the things that will make it one of Ontario's top-flight medical facilities are now in place.
Particular attention has been paid to infection control measures as well as products and systems that will make the new hospital safer and more secure for patients and staff, says SAH President and Chief Executive Officer Ron Gagnon.
Gagnon, along with Director of Communication and Public Affairs Mario Paluzzi and Director of New Hospital Development Harry Koskenoja gave SooToday.com a tour of the new hospital this week.
Fifty percent of patient beds in medical- and surgical-care areas will be private, as compared to about 18 percent in the current hospital, Gagnon said.
The new hospital also offers more and safer handwashing stations, including some sinks that are operated by pedals instead of handles.
Equipment sterilization facilities are centralized to one location and some service elevators are dedicated to delivering sterilized equipment and supplies to locations where they are needed, while separate service elevators are dedicated to removing used materials.
Three levels of the four-level facility are dedicated to patient care and the 'penthouse' is home to the building's state-of-the-art cooling and heating, water, electrical and air-exchange systems.
There are also two sets of corridors running the length of the hospital on the public levels, Gagnon said.
"This allows patients to be moved through one [corridor] in privacy while the public uses the other without restricting patient movement," he said.
The main hospital entrance is a soaring, west-facing glass foyer that rises the height of the building.
The new emergency department will be double the size and much better equipped than the existing department at SAH's general hospital location.
It has a separate entrance, a heated ramp that joins the helipad to the emergency department, was well as an ambulance bay that has room for four ambulances to enter the bay and move patients directly into the emergency department without having to take them outside at all.
Instead of curtains separating beds, there will be one bed in each examining room.
The department also houses several trauma rooms including one dedicated to pediatric care.
One thing patients will probably not notice will be the security cameras that will give staff a full view of the emergency department entrance and waiting room at all times.
Those are part of Sault Area Hospital's increased security.
The renal and oncology units will also have significantly more space than they currently occupy.
The long-awaited radiation bunker is taking shape and the area where patients will undergo dialysis is filled with natural light, offering space for four more dialysis patiients as compared to the present hospital. The building is due to be finished by October and SAH expects to take until March 6, 2011 to prepare the new hospital for patients to be moved there.
Besides moving existing stuff and taking delivery of new systems, equipment and furnishings, staff must also make sure everything is properly installed and works as it should before patients are moved.
"It's not like a house where we can just move in and live with things the way they are," Paluzzi said. "Everything must be completely ready for patients before we bring them here."
Preparations for the move have already begun with planning, staff training and some visits to the new hospital for staff.