A new multimillion-dollar health hub will be built adjacent to the Trenton Memorial Hospital.
The announcement was made by the CEO of the South East Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) Thursday.
The $6-million community health hub will be a “one-stop shop” for community health-care needs. It will provide primary and ambulatory care, addiction and mental health services, chronic disease management and care co-ordination services.
Supporters of the hospital applauded while the announcement was made.
“We had hoped that the health hub would be on Katherine Street near the Hospital and now it will be and so that’s a bonus for the whole community,” explained Betty Clost, a member of “Our TMH”An advocacy group working to save services at the hospital.
There was uncertainty surrounding the site after a preliminary environmental assessment suggested a cleanup of over $750,000. But further investigation determined the contamination isn’t moving or volatile meaning the risk is low. Which in turn has lowered remediation costs to just $17,000
“We did more and more analysis and received good advice to look at the analysis and then took what was brought back to us and got other people to provide advice and then got more and more comfortable that the risks were low,” explained Paul Hurras, the CEO of the South East LHIN.
Since the project has already undergone several pre-approvals for construction, it’s hoped shovels will be in the ground by the spring of 2018.
The hub will be built in two possibly three phases. The first to be completed will be the Belleville-Quinte West Community Health Centre which currently operates in a building they’ve outgrown in the downtown core.