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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, December 11, 2015 | 6 The legacy continues The Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital (OTMH) legacy continues. Drawing upon what lies at the heart of its essence, the circle of life, OTMH is on the threshold of its next phase. After more than a decade of planning, four years of construction and months of preparation, the new hospital will open its doors to patients on Sunday (Dec. 13). At 6 a.m. that day, the hospital at 327 Reynolds St. will close. At that time, the Emergency Department at the new Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital at 3001 Hospital Gate (Third Line and Dundas Street) will open. All in-patients at Reynolds Street will be moved to the $2.7 billion facility Dec. 13. All would-be patients will, from that moment, make their way to the new facility for care. Halton Healthcare Services (HHS) staff are prepared for higher-than-average patient visits in the new Emergency. The 1.6-million-square-foot facility will feature up to 457 in-patient beds on opening day. That's 135 more than now -- and there's room for future expansion. It will offer a full range of health care, including maternal and child, critical care, emergency, surgery, complex continuing care, rehabilitation, diagnostics, ambulatory care and a variety of support services. It features enhanced patient privacy and infection-prevention measures -- and is 80 per cent single-patient rooms. Not only is our new hospital brimming with the latest in technology, it also supports the emotional and mental aspects of healing through its design, rooms with a view and improved facilities for a patient's family. Gone are the days when children couldn't visit patients; the interruption of the overhead public address system was omnipresent, and more recently, supplies were stored in hallways, waiting rooms served as over ow Emergency accommodation, and the list goes on. It was time to move forward -- just as it was once time to erect the 357 Reynolds St. facility. It's the circle of being. As 100-year-old former nurse and Oakville resident Margaret Popplewell recalled in a story in our Thursday edition, the Reynolds Street site was once a eld. Many of us recall when the Hospital Gate site was a eld. And then we watched our new OTMH grow (remember when more than half a dozen cranes dotted the skyline?) OTMH is on the move. It's growing. It's improving. It's moving forward under the leadership of Oakville resident Denise Hardenne, its president and CEO. We are proud. There are so many to thank, the list is lengthy. It began with a block of provincial land. It was born after a $2.27 billion provincial government investment -- the largest by any level of government into any project in Oakville -- and much hard work from Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn, a long-time champion of the new hospital. It neared fruition as the Oakville Hospital Foundation, through the people of this community, raised a whopping $65 million, topped with a $130 million contribution from the Town of Oakville -- and not through a special tax levy thanks to Oakville Mayor Rob Burton's leadership. The hospital has three MRIs, two CT scanners, its own helipad, an ambulance bay and 24 dialysis stations. The John Oliver Auditorium, named after the former president and CEO of HHS, now Oakville MP , is ready with capacity for 400. There are 2,100 parking spaces including 1,180 in a six-level parking structure. The cafeteria offers 400 indoor seats and 60 outdoor seats. As our new OTMH opens, we watch with pride, our residents will visit as their life's journey ensues... and the circle of life and OTMH legacy will continue. Editorial "Connected to your Community" A time to be treasured, thanks OTMH Letter to the Editor 5046 Mainway, Unit 2, Burlington ON L7L 5Z1 General Inquiries: (905) 845-3824 Classi ed Advertising: (905) 632-4440 Circulation: 5300 Harvester Rd., Burlington (905) 631-6095 Volume 53 | Number 99 I am writing on behalf of my husband and myself. My husband, Bryan Moffat, is ill with cancer for the second time in a year-and-a-half. He has renal cell carcinoma, which is not operable. This letter is not about his health, but for the staff of the Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital (4th oor East). Bryan has been a patient on and off since July 2015 (this time). He wanted to let the staff members of Oakville Trafalgar know how much he appreciates their hard work. He never saw them in a bad mood; they were always smiling, and so accommodating. This oor is such a busy oor. He would like to thank them for taking such good care of him. We also would like to thank the hospital for allowing us to be marKelly (MacRae) Moffat and Bryan Moffat on their wedding day. ried in its small chapel on Nov. 13, | submitted photo 2015 at 4 p.m. We were told that and is doing as well as is to be expected, but we may want to move our wedding up, so we he is home. planned a wedding in about 24 hours. Thank you to the best staff and for making We will go down in history with the old hos- him smile. pital, but it was a day we will never forget. You Kelly (MacRae) Moffat and Bryan Moffat, made his day. He has since been released Oakville The Oakville Beaver is a division of Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Vice ­President and Group Publisher of Metroland West Regional General Manager Advertising Director NEIL OLIVER DAVID HARVEY DANIEL BAIRD Managing Editor ANGELA BLACKBURN RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director Business Manager Director of Production SANDY PARE MARK DILLS MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager Director of Distribution CHARLENE HALL KIM MOSSMAN Circulation Manager Seniors often depend on their home's equity Re: Should gains from the sale of a house be taxed? by Peter Watson, Nov. 26, 2015, Oakville Beaver You argue capital gains from the sale of principal residences should be taxed as a way to fund the government and transfer wealth between generations. With all due respect, I wholeheartedly disagree. My husband and I immigrated to Canada from Europe in 1960 with nothing but the clothes on our backs. We worked 60-hour weeks, fortunately never having to turn to the government for any social assistance. Today, I am a widow and live in a modest Oakville townhome purchased 10 years ago when I decided to move from Montreal to be closer to my two children and their families. My main "investment" is my home, which has roughly doubled in value. Until I decide to leave and actually sell, that value is only a number. I need to live somewhere and my Proud Official Media Sponsor For: Canadian Circulations Audit Board Member home is where I'd like to remain until I am no longer physically able. At that point, I will require every penny of equity from my home in order to fund my time in an assisted-living residence, which is not inexpensive when you compare costs in Ontario to those in other provinces, such as Quebec. The low interest rates you reference in your article as being helpful are in fact hurting me and other seniors, who cannot afford to risk their life savings and therefore rely on GIC returns of one per cent or less. When you factor in in ation, we are seeing our buying power erode each year. All of this is to say that I, and many other seniors, will need to rely on the tax-free sale of our principal residences as we enter our twilight years. Changing the rules at this point would not only be unfair, it would be nancially debilitating. Terezija Ternar, Oakville Recognized for Excellence by Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Proud Official Media Sponsor For: The Oakville Beaver welcomes letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, legal considerations and grammar. In order to be published all letters must contain the name, address and phone number of the author. Letters should be addressed to: The Editor, Oakville Beaver, 5046 Mainway, Unit 2, Burlington ON L7L 5Z1 or via email to editor@oakvillebeaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. 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