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The location of the new Civic Campus is important for all of eastern Ontario because communities outside Ottawa need to quickly access the speciality services at the region’s only trauma centre.

If you have a heart attack or stroke and call 911, whether you’re in Orleans, Kanata, Rockland or Renfrew, you’re headed for The Ottawa Hospital’s Civic Campus for treatment.

The Civic Campus is the only trauma centre in eastern Ontario and if paramedics pick up a patient who is suffering a stroke or heart attack, they can make a diagnosis, initiate treatment and call in the appropriate code so that a team of specialized medical staff is ready for them when they arrive at the hospital.

That’s why it’s important that the new Civic Campus is centrally located close to Highway 417 – so paramedics can get patients to the hospital quickly from all directions.

“The location of the trauma centre represents the hub for the spokes for municipalities across eastern Ontario,” said Michael Nolan, Director of Emergency Services for Renfrew County. Paramedics bypass other hospitals for the Civic Campus because of time sensitivity. Although some hospitals may be closer, they simply do not have the same access to specialized services as the Civic Campus, which serves as the regional trauma centre and stroke centre, and is supported by the University of Ottawa Heart Institute.

Once patients arrive at the Civic Campus, space matters to provide the best health care. The Champlain LHIN has endorsed the hospital’s plan for 50 to 60 acres. If hospital designers had their choice, they would build outwards, not upwards. Yes, patient rooms can be in a tower but critical services like the Emergency Department and Diagnostic Imaging must be next to each other because minutes matter in saving lives.

We will need more square footage if we want to create dedicated ‘back of house’ corridors and elevators for patient transport, food delivery and maintenance. Nursing substations and single patient rooms (to reduce infection spread) also lead to a larger footprint.

Another reason for more space is the need for wellness areas for staff, patients and visitors. There’s lots of evidence to show that access to naturalized areas, gardens, terraces, walkways and large sun-filled windows help improve patient health. Experiencing nature can affect the number of symptoms they feel, their perceived general health, and their tendency to fall into mental states of despair.

Linda Ferro-Chartrand, a nurse at the General Campus Intensive Care Unit, often accompanies patients who are able to leave the unit to wellness areas such as the Butterfly Garden, between the General Campus and CHEO.

The new campus requires about 3,400 parking spots to accommodate patients, visitors and staff. At any given point on a weekday, there are at least 20 cars circling the Civic Campus looking for parking. When patients can’t find parking in the hospital’s lots, they park in the surrounding neighbourhood. The City of Ottawa estimates that on Ruskin Street, which borders the campus, parking spots are an average of 95 percent full on weekday mornings. In 2014, Ottawa bylaw officers issued 3,306 parking tickets on the street.

The provincial government doesn’t fund parking for hospitals, and tall parking garages or deep underground lots are very expensive. Surface lots for the new hospital would likely cost about $16 million, while a stacked garage would cost $110 million and an underground lot would be $291 million.

To lower the pressure on our parking lots, access to the hospital will be supported by the city’s light-rail transit system as well as other mass transit system plans and green methods of transportation. Walking and cycling will reduce the number of staff and patient families using cars to drive to the health centre.

Once a site is selected for the new Civic Campus, the hospital will engage with the community, including the City of Ottawa and OC Transpo, to find the right parking solution. We will consider green space, transit, the environment and technological advances; respect taxpayer and donor funding; and balance the needs of patients, families, staff members and our neighbours.

You can read more about the hospital’s health-care perspective on the need for a new Civic Campus on our website.

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