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continued from p.12 More beds for admitted patients is expected to alleviate pressure on the emergency department. Joseph Brant Hospital currently has 239 funded beds, with sometimes as many as 30 more beds needed due to almost daily overcapacity. The expanded and redeveloped hospital will have in excess of 300 beds. "We have an aging population, so we have increasing needs that need to be met for our community," responded Vandewall when asked why the hospital is overcapacity. "The other key point is we have not seen redevelopment in this community for over 40 years, so we're operating programs today in this hospital in half the space they should be operated in." Seventy per cent of rooms in the redeveloped and expanded hospital will be private. Eighty per cent of medical surgical beds will be private and 75 per cent of the rooms will have a view of Lake Ontario. Currently, only 14 per cent of the hospital's rooms are private. Rooms will be fully accessible and feature natural materials like wood, as well as inviting colours. Private rooms, a home-like environment and lake views are expected to help on a number of levels, such as with infection control, privacy, length of stay, as well as prevention of medication errors. Mary MacLeod, vice-president of patient care services and chief nursing executive, said the hospital's new features combined with staff expertise will result in a better patient experience. "Right now they (staff) don't work in the best conditions but they still give the best care, so this allows them to give the best care more easily and actually do things they really want to do for patients -- get them that private room, get them a shower in an environment that isn't all cramped, get them in and out of the washroom with their walker when they aren't bumping into doorways because it is so tight," said MacLeod. The hospital employs 175 physicians and 1,400 full- and part-time professional health care staff. There are also more than 600 active volunteers. More staff is expected to be in place when construction is complete. It is too early at this point for official numbers, say hospital officials. "There will be an increase in staff, which is something we are still working through with the ministry," said Vandewall. "Certainly there will be more staff and more physicians, which results in an increase in jobs for Burlington's economy." Burlington's redeveloped hospital has been designed to meet the short-term needs of the community. Part of the hospital's long-term master plan, approved by the government, includes new towers and the demolition of some of the old inpatient towers. A preliminary timeline for another redevelopment and expansion would see construction start around 2028 or later. The parking structure and Halton McMaster Family Health Centre have been built to allow two additional storeys above each in the future. The key to preventing an ongoing trend of hospital overcapacity in Burlington is financial injections in the right health care streams, Vandewall explained. He said the provincial gov- Planning for today -- with an eye on the future 13 | Thursday, March 27, 2014 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com ernment needs to focus on investing in the local Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) and Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) for more homecare support, besides proper patient placement for those who no longer need to be in hospital. Such options are their home, long-term care facility or supportive independent living. "We're not building for tomorrow, we're building for today, so the assumptions for capacity are up to 2016-17," Vandewall said. "... As much as there'll be a need for expansion of hospital facilities, there's a greater need for the expansion of community-based services. With the introduction of new technologies and changes in practice, more and more health care can be provided in community settings versus in hospital settings. Hospitals will eventually evolve to become for really, the truly ill people." The funding formula New hospitals are expensive. The Province is footing most of the bill contingent on a $120 million community contribution that includes $60 million raised by the Joseph Brant Hospital Foundation and $60 million from Burlington taxpayers. The foundation's fundraising campaign is the largest in the city's history. A number of large donations -- from businesses, families, service clubs, fundraising events and the hospital's auxiliary -- have been announced since the campaign launched in January 2012. "We're just over 40 per cent of the campaign goal right now and we're really pleased with that," said Kevin Brady, chair of the Our New Era Campaign Cabinet, who also credits the hospital with saving his life in 1999. The foundation will be rolling out its community campaign in the next 12-18 months. "Typically in campaigns of this size, and you'll see this in Oakville and St. Joe's in Hamilton, we do focus on those individual leadership gifts at the beginning prior to going out to the community at large," said Anissa Hilborn, president of the Joseph Brant Hospital Foundation (http:// jbhfoundation.ca). The fundraising campaign should reach the 75 per cent mark in 18-24 months. Burlington city council backed the $60 million financial commitment in 2009, formalizing the details of the agreement in 2012. The city will provide payments from 2014-18, which will see $4.75 million delivered April 1, a further $21.4 million on April 1, 2015, $15 million on April 1, 2016, $8.1 million on April 1, 2017 and $10.75 million on April 1, 2018. A special hospital tax levy was added to taxpayers' bills in 2010 to cover the cost of the city's share. The annual dedicated tax levy will continue until 2028. Burlington Mayor Rick Goldring says the redeveloped and expanded hospital will be a "shot in the arm for the city." "The community realizes this is very important and that we needed this for a long time," Goldring said. "The vast majority of residents are extremely supportive of the project, along with the $60 million contribution from the taxpayer." For information about the expansion and redevelopment at Joseph Brant Hospital, visit www.josephbranthospital.ca. Above, leading the way into a new era are, from left, Joseph Brant Hospital Campaign Cabinet Chair Kevin Brady, Brenda Ward, Chair of the Joseph Brant Hospital Foundation Board of Directors, and Anissa Hilborn, president of the Joseph Brant Hospital Foundation. Below, Professor and Chair of the Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University Dr. David Price tours the Halton McMaster Family Health Centre. | photos by Nikki Wesley ­ Oakville Beaver (Follow on Twitter @halton_photog or facebook.com/HaltonPhotog) Next week, Halton Hospitals: Building Our Health Care, a special Metroland Media West four-part project, will look at the Milton District Hospital. For all the stories, photos and video, visit www.oakvillebeaver.com and http://insidehalton.com/ video/4395970.