Seventh-floor medical inpatient unit and eighth-floor dialysis unit to provide enhanced services to patients
Feb 09, 2010 - 04:30 AM
By Parvaneh Pessian
OSHAWA -- Ida Moulaison was beside herself in awe as she took in the sights while visiting Lakeridge Health Oshawa's spacious new dialysis unit.
Located in the C wing on the eighth floor of the facility's southeast tower above the R.S. McLaughlin Durham Regional Cancer Centre, it is one of two new units the hospital is boasting about as part of its $91.5-million redevelopment project.
"It's like a whole new world," said Ms. Moulaison, who has been undergoing dialysis treatment at the hospital three days a week for the past three years.
Dialysis is the process of passing blood through an artificial kidney machine for patients with chronic kidney disease.
"There's so much more room, it's clean and bright -- if you have to go to a place for treatment, this is it."
In a few weeks, the first group of patients will have the opportunity to experience the dialysis unit and the new medical inpatient unit on the seventh floor.
Hospital staff, officials and members of the community gathered at Lakeridge Health Oshawa on Feb. 5 to celebrate the unveiling of the new, fully accessible facilities.
"These bright and spacious new units offer much more than just a breathtaking view," said Kevin Empey, president and CEO of Lakeridge Health.
"With wheelchair-accessible washrooms and ceiling lifts in every patient room, these floors greatly enhance the patient and family experience at Lakeridge Health and help our staff provide enhanced care to our patients."
The new floors will provide expanded programs and services to patients in an additional 20,000 square feet of treatment space.
Highlights of the new units include 32 inpatient bed with in-room medical lifts, a state-of-the-art reverse osmosis room to purify water used in dialysis, capacity for a 40-station hemodialysis area, and more single patient and semi-private rooms to increase privacy and infection control.
The outpatient dialysis unit, in particular, is home to four units of 10 hemodialysis stations, each with its own 26-inch flat screen television for patients to enjoy during their treatment period, which could last for an extended period of time.
"Each unit has a blanket warmer, ice machine, medication cart and medication fridge so the nurses giving the care pretty much never have to leave the unit," said Shaunette Williams, clinical leader of regional nephrology services, who guided visitors on a tour of the new floors after the presentation.
The opening marks the first phase of Lakeridge Health Oshawa's capital redevelopment project, which was launched last March with the support of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, and is expected to be complete in spring 2011.
Upon completion, the C wing will also contain units for pediatrics, rehabilitation and child, adolescent and adult mental health services.
"Excellence in health care requires excellent facilities, excellent staff and the cooperation of the donors," said Chuck Powers, president of the Oshawa Hospital Foundation. "We're blessed to have all of those."
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