WATCH: Mike Armstrong visits the new McGill University Health Centre facilities
MONTREAL — Thousands of employees and hundreds of patients are getting ready to relocate from older facilities to Montreal’s new mega-hospital.
It has been described as one of the most complex moves in North American history.
Canada’s newest hospital is a brand spanking new, 2.5 million square feet state-of-the-art facility.
Hospital worker, Imma Franco, is busy right now, and will be for the next few months through what hospital officials are calling the activation phase.
The $2.3 billion McGill University Health Centre includes two separate emergency rooms, 20 operating rooms and 500 patient rooms.
At least 50 per cent of the hospital’s equipment is already in place, and there’s equipment coming in on a daily basis.
The new MUHC was in the planning for 15 years and under construction for 52 months.
It will be the new home of the Montreal Children’s Hospital, the original was built in the 1950s, and the Royal Victoria Hospital, which was constructed way back in the 1890s.
And there’s more: a new research facility, a Chest Institute and a cancer centre.
The move
The move is just about all Activation Director Michèle Lortie thinks about.
It’s been two years of planning every step — literally down to the minute.
“We will shut down the Vic,” she said.
“And the same day, the same hour, 7 o’clock in the morning, we will open here.”
Getting patients into the hospital’s new rooms is expected to pose the biggest challenge as many aren’t in any shape to move.
Using the support of Montreal police officers, there will be two traffic corridors to transport patients from the Royal Victoria Hospital to the new site.
This means 200 to 250 trips, with a new patient arriving every three minutes.
“It’s very, very big.”
“At this point in time we are planning for 35 ambulances,” noted Lortie.
“That just shows how big an operation this is.”
The other major challenge is the staff.
The new hospital is going to be home to 8,000 employees.
There will be weeks of dry runs and simulations to get the kinks out, make sure everything works, and ensure everyone knows where everything is.
It may be empty now, but it will be bustling soon … for many decades to come.
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