Planning and design work for the integration of health care facilities in the community of Leader have been ongoing for many months. Discussions and design efforts have included representatives from the Leader health services staff, patient and/or family individuals, members of the architectural team, community stakeholders, and the Cypress Health Region.

A call for construction tenders was recently distributed and there was significant interest expressed from a variety of bidding companies. However, when the tender proposals were opened, it was discovered that the lowest tender was substantially higher than the budgeted capital construction amount approved by the provincial Ministry of Health.

Since the initial review of the tender documents, the Cypress Health Region has had discussions with the Ministry of Health and the project’s architectural partner, AODBT Architecture, to identify the next steps in the process. It was determined that a further detailed review of the submitted tenders will be undertaken in an attempt to identify any efficiencies.

As a result of this delay in the construction tender award process, the scheduled official sod turning event on November 13th has been postponed until further notice. It will be rescheduled in the future.

“Along with the staff, municipal partners, and community we are very disappointed with the results of the call for tenders,” said Brenda Schwan, Cypress Health’s Vice President of Human Resources and Capital Projects. “However, we want to emphasize that the project has not been cancelled and this is merely a bump in the road towards the start of construction on our health facility integration capital project.”

Schwan added that the health region will continue to work with its project partners and the Leader project planning committee members to move the project forward towards the start of construction. “Together with the Ministry of Health, we remain committed and want to see this capital project move forward so that the overall patient care experience can be enhanced with health services all under one roof.”

The proposed capital project included the addition of acute care, ambulance/emergency medical services and universal care unit, along with renovations to the existing Western Senior Citizens Home to accommodate the integration of health services. It was anticipated that construction would begin in November 2015 and that the project would be complete in the summer of 2017. The project will result in a continuum of health services being located under one roof at the current location of the Western Senior Citizens Home.

As more updates are available in relation to the progress and status of the construction tender process, they will be passed along to the staff and public.