On Monday, Northumberland Hills Hospital (NHH) will mark its 15th year in Cobourg.
The hospital treated its first patient on Oct. 22, 2003, officially amalgamating the hospitals in Cobourg and Port Hope into one central site off of the 401.
The community raised more than $15 million to help build NHH. Now, the hospital is the medical hub for western Northumberland County.
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“What we’ve been able to do is increase the types of services available to our communities,” said Linda Davis, CEO at NHH. “Services that weren’t available in either of the other facilities, we are able to provide close to home. Chemotherapy, dialysis, we can offer here. Patients don’t have to travel.”
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On day one, then board chair Don Morrison predicted the hospital would be a $40-million operation with 500 full and part-time workers. Now, the hospital has a $71-million operating budget with more than 600 employees.
“The Town of Cobourg has grown and the hospital has grown with it,” said Stephen Peacock, CAO for the Town of Cobourg. “I think it’s going to provide a good service in the future as it has in the past.”
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The hospital is now looking ahead to the next several years by developing a new master plan which will include expansion to services such as urology.
It’s a turnaround for NHH, which was operating at a deficit and facing cuts just a few years ago.
“We did a lot of hard work in our hospital improvement plan,” Davis said. “We’ve reduced our costs. We had help from the Ministry of Health last year in recognizing a long-standing structural deficit.”
On Thursday, the hospital celebrated its anniversary by offering one hour, behind-the-scenes, guided tours to the public.