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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, May 7, 2015 | 36 Halton.ca 311 Keeping Halton's residents safe and healthy Halton's Physician Appreciation Week is May 4 ­ 8, 2015. During this week, Halton Region and our local hospitals celebrate the commitment and dedication of our local doctors and the important contributions they make to our community. Now in its 12th year, Physician Appreciation Week was originally established as part of the Halton Physician Recruitment program, which undertakes a comprehensive and coordinated Halton-wide strategy to attract and retain family doctors in the region. Since 2003, the program has recruited over 200 full-time family physicians to Halton. This is clearly helping us achieve one of the key goals set out in the Halton Region Strategic Action Plan 2015 ­ 2018: "to support the health and well-being of all Halton residents." Our local doctors play a significant role in helping us enhance the quality of life for all people in Halton, today and into the future. Thank you to all of Halton's dedicated physicians who work tirelessly year round, making a difference in every patient they treat. Because of their contributions, Halton is a safer and healthier community, and a great place to live, work, raise a family and retire. Gary Carr, Regional Chair Update: New Oakville Hospital It's certainly hard to miss at the corner of Third Line and Dundas Street, where the 1.6 million square foot New Oakville Hospital is being constructed to replace the existing Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital. Built to meet the needs of Oakville's growing population, the new hospital will have capacity for 457 inpatient beds with built space and flexibility to grow to 602 beds in the future. Some of the most exciting features of the new facility include 80 per cent single-patient rooms, new and expanded hospital programs including cancer care, services for all developmental stages of life, as well as a modern design that supports family involvement in care delivery. Elements of the room include a full washroom with shower, a family zone with a pull-out couch so that a family member may remain overnight, lighting and temperature controls, and entertainment systems. Not only do single-patient rooms increase patient privacy, studies also suggest that having one patient per room helps with reduced infection rates, quicker patient recovery rates, increased patient safety and increased patient satisfaction. Construction of the new hospital began in August 2011 and is on-track to reach substantial completion at the end of July 2015 with a scheduled opening date of December 2015. Thanking doctors for keeping Halton healthy Supporting family medicine in Halton Region Halton's Physician Recruitment program continues to undertake a comprehensive and coordinated Halton-wide recruitment and retention strategy to ensure a strong family medicine presence in the Halton community: Looking for a family doctor? We've found some! 200+ 100+ 10,000+ Family doctor and medical specialist inquiries received annually by Halton Region, specific to setting up a practice in the region. New family doctors have established practices in Halton Region since 2010. halton.ca/ newphysicians Patients receive care from the Halton McMaster Family Health Centre each year, enabled through funding from Halton Region and the City of Burlington.