Women's College Hospital has announced the next big step in women's health care: a hospital aiming to keep women out of the hospital.
Construction has begun on a new 630,000 square foot hospital on Women's College's current site at 76 Grenville Street, near Bay and College streets.The redevelopment marks another huge step in the hospital's return to becoming an independent facility. While it was a groundbreaking medical teaching site and health care facility, it was amalgamated with Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and the Orthopaedic and Arthritic Hospital by the former Conservative Ontario government in 1998.Former health minister George Smitherman returned it to its status as an independent facility in 2005.The hospital will place new emphasis on ambulatory care, with clinics and surgical suites designed to focus on prevention, disease management, treatment and research and education. The redevelopment comes on the heels of a study entitled A Thousand Voices for Women's Health in which women from across various demographics were asked what they would like to see improved in terms of health care for women.In the report, respondents stated they wanted care that was more empathetic to their specific cultural, religious, sexual and other identities, and that they wanted treatment that would help them remain independent in their own communities rather than forced to rely on in-patient care in hospitals.Women's College Hospital president and CEO Marilyn Emery said the facility's new direction will provide new and welcome alternatives for women dealing with chronic conditions such as cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis and mental illness."These diseases are often best managed with ongoing support, care and education in the community," she said. "When we do that well, we can prevent in-patient hospitalization."Emery said the new hospital would help women feel safe and receive holistic treatment, and emphasized that the new and improved Women's College Hospital would strive even more to take women's unique health needs into account."We need more research about why certain diseases affect women more - or differently - than men," she said. "We need more advanced and new models of ambulatory care and we need more evidence-based data about what works and what doesn't when it comes to equitable practices."Women's College research scientist Dr. Lorraine Lipscombe said the new facility will remain at the forefront of research and innovation in terms of women's medicine, adding the new facility will be far better suited to patients and researchers alike."I'm proud that Women's College is building a research institute that supports and celebrates the world's best in women's health and that, based on an ambulatory approach to care, we're building a hospital to keep people out of the hospital," she said. "It's innovative, exciting and exactly what women need."Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews said the start of construction on the new facility, slated to cost roughly $800 million, is a cause for celebration for all."I thought back a little bit to when I was first elected and (the McGuinty) government was first elected in 2003," she said. "To even dream of an occasion like this in 2003, well, a lot has gone on (to make it possible.)"The new facility is expected to open its doors in 2015.