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Friday, November 22, 2019 — The Ottawa Hospital New Campus Engagement Group (CEG) has released its first report, A Healthy Ottawa Planning Partnership, based on the group’s work since May 2018 as an advisory body for developing and planning the hospital’s new campus.

The report presents the emerging community vision of The Ottawa Hospital’s new campus: a site that is integrated into its surrounding community and supports a healthier Ottawa. It follows three main themes as it outlines the community’s relationship with the hospital and opportunities for working with government partners on creating a healthy Ottawa:

1. Promoting healthy living
2. Building a healthy Ottawa through institutional partnerships
3. Establishing a community network

The report has been endorsed by The Ottawa Hospital’s Board of Governors and will be presented to municipal, provincial and federal partners.

CEG members have found that building a healthy Ottawa is a critical point of intersection where many of their key goals converge with those of the City, notably as a critical element in the City’s new Official Plan.

Some of the most important decisions to support the CEG’s vision of a hospital that is integrated with the community will lie with the City of Ottawa. By entering into a planning partnership, the CEG, the hospital and the City can ensure that their processes and visions are aligned and working together to make Ottawa healthier.

“This new health-care facility will be integrated with the community from day one, so having community voices included in the project from the beginning is essential,” said Katherine Cotton, Chair of The Ottawa Hospital Board of Governors. “We are thankful for the Campus Engagement Group’s hard work on this report, and eager to incorporate more community voices and expand on this work through a series of community events over the coming year.”

Following this report, the CEG will continue to be embedded in the project as an integral part of the engagement process. This includes discussions on transportation, heritage, greenspace and access to ensure that community voices are reflected in work to complete zoning requirements on the new site.

A framework will be developed to engage First Nations, Inuit and Métis patients, families, communities, and organizations on improving care at the new site, as well as at The Ottawa Hospital’s existing campuses. This framework will build on ongoing discussions with communities and organizations about the new campus, as well as work by teams at The Ottawa Hospital and the Champlain LHIN to improve care for Indigenous peoples in Ottawa.

The Campus Engagement Group is one of three ways the hospital is engaging the public on the new campus, alongside online activities and in-person events such as community town halls. In the coming weeks, the hospital will announce a new event series to continue shaping and defining the community narrative around the new site, which will be documented by a second report.

Community feedback continues to play a key role in the early planning work on the hospital’s new campus. The hospital is now beginning the second of five planning stages in the Ministry of Health’s capital projects process, in which planners will develop the ‘functional program’ for the site. Detailed design comes in the third planning stage.

More about the Campus Engagement Group:

The Campus Engagement Group’s members include community leaders from local neighbourhood associations and groups that advocate for seniors, greenspace, heritage, the Central Experimental Farm, patients, and people who have disabilities, as well as members of the hospital’s administration, the City of Ottawa, and the National Capital Commission.

The Campus Engagement Group makes recommendations to the hospital’s Board of Governors by deliberating, comparing perspectives and identifying possible compromises together. It was created based on recommendations in the third-party engagement report Setting the Stage, Turning the Page. Its formation is documented in the report From Buy-In to Ownership.

The Ottawa Hospital’s new campus will be located near the intersection of Carling Avenue and Preston Street., bordered by Prince of Wales Drive and Maple Lane. It will be the location of eastern Ontario’s Regional Trauma Centre, and will be the centre for complex, specialized care for patients in Ottawa, eastern Ontario, western Quebec, and parts of Nunavut. It was included in the 2019 Infrastructure Ontario Market Update.

For more information, please visit the GreaterTogether website.

Land acknowledgement:

The Ottawa Hospital acknowledges it is located upon the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin people.

We have the privilege and responsibility to serve First Nations, Métis and Inuit of many backgrounds and from many treaty lands and to demonstrate respect for Indigenous people’s contributions and culture.

We also acknowledge traditional knowledge and healing developed over countless generations.