By Rosalind Russell – It was a full house celebrating the completion of the second site of St. Joseph’s Continuing Care Centre on Lasalle Blvd.
According to the release, this milestone – marking the end of a three-year, $51 million hospital build – strengthens rehabilitative care in the community and throughout the region.
St. Joseph’s is the only standalone rehabilitative care hospital in Northeastern Ontario.
The new purpose-built rehabilitative care hospital features 72 individual patient bedrooms, physiotherapy gyms, occupational and recreational therapy spaces, the Desjardins Healing Garden, spiritual care spaces (a chapel and multifaith room), places for patients and family members to socialize such as lounges and dining rooms, as well as administrative offices.
Combined with St. Joseph’s original South Bay Road site, the hospital now offers 136 beds.
That pressure came into sharp focus during the COVID-19 pandemic, when rooms at the Clarion Hotel in Greater Sudbury were converted into 60 alternative care beds to ease the strain.
What was intended as a three-month measure remained in operation for nearly five years, a testament to the depth of need for dedicated rehabilitative care capacity in the region.
That site, which closed last year, is no longer needed now with this permanent facility on Lasalle Blvd designed for the complex needs of patients.
Besides improving patient outcomes with increased hours of therapy, St. Joseph’s supports the health care system as whole by reducing pressures on acute care hospitals and the long-term care homes by helping patients regain strength to return home.
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