With the start of construction for the integration of health facilities in the community of Leader just around the corner, the Cypress Health Region has received Ministry of Health approval to release the tender documents for the construction/renovation for the new integrated facility. The call for tenders was released on September 15th and will conclude on October 15th.
The ‘call for tenders’ process will allow potential General Contractors to finalize their construction proposal in relation to overall project cost, timelines for completion, strategies for attaining the objectives of the integrated facility’s model of care, and other relevant construction issues. The contractors will be expected to have a strong collaborative partnership with Cypress Health and the Ministry of Health during the construction process.
“We are very appreciative of the community and staff’s continuing excitement for the start of construction,” stated Brenda Schwan, Vice President of Human Resources and Capital Projects for the Cypress Health Region. “This call for construction tenders is one of the last major steps prior to the start of construction and we are looking forward to finalizing the General Contractor who will be a vital partner of our project team during the next two years.”
The bids will be publicly opened on October 16th. They will be reviewed and evaluated by the Project Team, which will be followed by an approximate 1-2 week timeline for the Ministry of Health and Cypress Health Region to approve and award the contract. Discussions with the successful General Contractor regarding the initiation of the next steps will begin immediately after the award is completed. It is anticipated that on-site construction will begin in early November 2015.
The construction project will consist of an addition to the existing Western Senior Citizens Home and related renovations to the existing building to accommodate the addition. Features of the project will include:
- 11 universal care unit treatment rooms – physicians, nurse practitioner, public health, community and mental health, home care, and visiting professional services will be located in this area. The programming for this area is based on a new model of care which encourages deeper collaboration between health providers and reduces the amount of locations one has to travel to in order to receive a continuum of health services.
- Therapies suite
- 5 acute care inpatient rooms
- 1 isolation acute care room – will serve as a new service not currently available at the Leader Hospital
- 1 trauma/emergency bed
- Laboratory and x-ray service
- 1 family overnight suite
- A new 12-bed long term care wing will be constructed to replace an existing Western Seniors Citizens Home wing, which will be renovated to provide other services in the integrated facility. During the period that the new long term care wing will be built, affected residents will be temporarily relocated into a dedicated area of the Leader Hospital.
Schwan added that the staff, patient family representatives, and community members have been very busy over the past several months in finalizing the facility design and construction parameters. “Their dedication to designing the little extras will go a long way to ensuring that the care offered in the facility will be as effective as possible,” stated Schwan. “The input of the staff and others has been tremendous and well
received.”
Construction is anticipated to be complete by summer 2017.