Ottawa, Canada (CU)_ As the stress of COVID-19 subsides at the Ottawa Hospital, focus is now shifting towards preparing for the next pandemic. According to the President and CEO Cameron Love, the pandemic has highlighted the necessity for a hospital that can quickly increase its intensive care services and provide the physical infrastructure to prevent the spread of an infectious, airborne virus.
The CEO said that these pandemic lessons will have an influence on the design and construction of the Ottawa Hospital’s new Civic site. The $2.8 billion project is currently in the second stage of development out of five planning stages and is set to open near Dow’s Lake in 2028.
According to Love, the landmark hospital would feature 700 private rooms, with enough space and equipment to convert at least 200 of the rooms into intensive-care rooms with plug-in technology, in times of emergency. Love said, “You won’t see a hospital built in Canada anymore that isn’t 100 per cent private rooms, starting with the Civic. The pandemic has really shone a spotlight on the importance of it.”
Love was appointed as the CEO of the hospital a year ago. He said that the current Civic and General campuses have 76 critical care beds in total. The hospital reached a stage where it had to double its services during the pandemic, delivering beds and ventilators to more than 200 ICU patients. The pandemic noted the need for operating rooms that may use negative pressure to restrict the transmission of airborne particles during intubations and other aerosol-generating processes. This feature will be available in all the operating rooms of the new hospital.
The pandemic also exposed the old Civic campus’s limitations, which dates back to more than a century. It features over 80 different entrances and a disconnected design that has challenges in controlling and tracking the movement of patients, family, and staff. According to Love, the new hospital will be constructed in a way that family members can come safely and be tracked during the next pandemic. He also noted that it is vital for any hospital to be adaptable enough to deal with the other medical services even during the times of pandemic.
All these are part of the plan to create a smart hospital at the forefront of research and development that can adapt to new technologies or provide support during the next pandemic. Love said, “We have to build a flexible platform that allows us to innovate. That’s a huge learning out of the pandemic: It’s really about creating the flexibility to surge when you have to react very quickly and safely.”
The Ottawa Hospital was named one of Canada’s top three smart hospitals earlier this month. According to Newsweek magazine’s ranking, the hospital is ranked 75th in the world. Love said he was thrilled with the honour as it exhibited the institution’s major strategic objective.
