WINNIPEG — Health officials are hoping the third time’s the charm for the construction of a new entranceway to Bethesda Regional Health Centre in Steinbach.
The main entrance is being torn up again by construction crews after a new ramp and stairs were built in 2014 and then, in a separate project, modified last year.
The ramp and stairs were part of improvements to the hospital worth $4.5 million.
However the steep ramp, only wide enough for one wheelchair at a time, is impossible to use if patients are alone and hard on someone having to push the wheelchair up or down the ramp. The stairs are long and steep and if patients needed help up them to the main entrance they can call for help through an intercom system but only during business hours.
READ MORE: “Scary” Steinbach hospital ramp is getting improvements again
“That was scary,” said Wilbert Dueck after using the ramp back in August.
“I can’t believe it, that my money went into this here.”
Last September, the Southern Regional Health Authority spent $125,000 to build three rest areas along the ramp.
Now another construction project is underway to build an elevator from the parking lot level to the main floor, an enclosed staircase and reconnect the emergency department entrance to the main entrance, the way it was before renovations in 2014.
Jan Gunness, Director of Health Service for the hospital said things could have been done differently.
“I think lessons have been learned and going forward we’ve learned some valuable things around accessiblity and visibility.”
Gunness wouldn’t say how much more money the new additions would cost because there is announcement restrictions during an election campaign.
The ramp that was built will remain in place despite patients complaining of how steep it is.
Construction is scheduled to be completed by the end of October.