Officials with Campbellford Memorial Hospital say 48 acres of donated land will be used for its proposed Campus of Care to replace the aging hospital.
On Monday morning, hospital interim president CEO Eric Hanna and board chair Kevin Huestis announced local landowner Jim Curle has donated 48 acres of land along County Road 30 just west of Campbellford to be the site of the Campus of Care. The land — which currently is a soybean field — is east of the Tanner Industrial Park.
The Campus of Care proposes a combination of multiple health-care services along with housing options and long-term care home beds in one location. The hospital’s community mental health program and the Geriatric Assessment and Intervention Network will also be relocated to the site.
Forty acres of land was a criteria as part of an application process for the estimated $150 million project. The application for a capital-planning grant is still pending Ministry of Health approval. The hospital says 70 per cent of the new hospital cost will be funded by the Government of Ontario while the remaining 30 per cent will come from fundraising efforts led by its foundation. The hospital is also partnering with OMNI Health Care to build a long-term care home.
The Campus of Care would replace the aging 34-bed hospital which has sections that are nearly 70 years old. The hospital is facing more than $25 million in repairs and replacements over the next 25 years, officials say.
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“Our current hospital is aging and has had minimal upgrades over the decades,” Hanna said.
“Our team’s full understanding of the facility’s infrastructure limitations and deficiencies further reinforces our urgent goal of building a new hospital as part of a Campus of Care. While we advocate and move towards redevelopment, we must provide patients, staff and physicians with a safe, comfortable environment in the short term, and this is why we have partnered with the provincial government to make timely, necessary upgrades to building.”
Curle, who owns a dairy farm on County Road 30 between Campbellford and Havelock, says the donated land was a field for cash crops. He said the community needs a new hospital so he donated the property.
“There’s only so much stuff you can do with an old building and it’s time for something new,” Curle tells Global News Peterborough.
“Health care is important and I needed to put the community needs ahead of my own.”
Huestis says the land donation “enhances our readiness” to process with the capital planning process.
“And it is a historic step in the redevelopment of Campbellford’s hospital as part of a Campus of Care,” Huestis said.
“We are honoured to be OMNI’s first partner in this shared mission of creating a Campus of Care, and our board remains committed to advocating for timely approval to move to the next step of redevelopment.”
CMH Foundation board chair Martha Hunt said Curle’s “transformative” donation marks the most significant gift to date to the foundation.
“Our board extends our gratitude for this magnanimous gift that will be integral in building exceptional health care in our community,” Hunt said.
Also joining the announcement on Monday was Northumberland-Peterborough South MPP David Piccini who says the government remains committed to providing residents access to their required health-care services.
“I will keep working alongside our partners to strengthen health care in our community, and I want to sincerely thank everyone involved in securing this donation,” Piccini said.
OMNI Health president and CEO Raheem Hirji also thanked Curle for the donation.
“OMNI is excited about the opportunity to build a long-term care home on the CMH Campus which will be an optimal location for residents to age within their community while accessing a continuum of health services nearby,” Hirji said.
The hospital says it will be working closely with the Municipality of Trent Hills and Northumberland County to determine any traffic changes in the area.
Officials also encourage residents to contact elected officials and the Ministry of Health to show their support for the project which will have updates online at cmh.ca/redevelopment.
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