AJAX - Construction of a major expansion at the Rouge Valley Health System's Ajax and Pickering Hospital is underway and to mark its start the hospital is celebrating. Staff, doctors and volunteers from the Rouge Valley Health System's Ajax and Pickering Hospital joined Deputy Premier and Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, George Smitherman, Wayne Arthurs, MPP Pickering-Scarborough East, Joe Dickson, MPP Ajax-Pickering and residents today at a groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate construction at the community hospital.

With the combination of 140,000 square feet of new construction and renovations, the Ajax and Pickering site will become a larger, more modern facility housing many expanded and redesigned services.  It will have a new Emergency Room that will speed up emergency care and reduce wait times for services.

“Today we're celebrating the great future for health care in Ajax and Pickering and across Ontario,” said Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, George Smitherman. “Ontarians deserve the very best health care facilities we can offer and it's exciting for us to move forward with the expansion and redevelopment at the Rouge Valley Health System.”

New and expanded services at the Ajax and Pickering hospital include: 

  • A new emergency department; 
  • An expanded adult inpatient mental health unit; 
  • A new ambulatory care unit for outpatient clinic visits, a fracture clinic, outpatient procedures, medical day care and pre-admit visits; 
  • A new laboratory; 
  • A complex-continuing care unit with capacity for 30 beds; and
  • Redesigned space for the diagnostic imaging and cardiac diagnostic areas

“Today's groundbreaking is an exciting day for our community,” said MPP Arthurs. “The start of construction on the redevelopment and expansion of the Ajax and Pickering Hospital demonstrates our government's commitment to providing continued access to great health care here in Durham Region.”

“The redevelopment of Ajax and Pickering Hospital will accommodate Ajax and Pickering's expanding population and deliver more effective family-centred care for a broad range of health conditions,” said MPP Dickson.  “A more modern, expanded hospital will serve the hundreds of thousands of people who call Ajax and Pickering home.”

“Today's celebration is a result of a vision long shared by our staff, our doctors, our many volunteers and the community to expand and modernize our hospital.” said Tom Atkins, Board Chair of Rouge Valley Health System. “And today, we've taken another exciting step toward that vision.”

Aecon Buildings is responsible for building and financing the project. Construction is expected to be completed by early fall of 2010. Over the course of construction there will be an average of 75 workers on site daily.

“It's really a very exciting day, especially when you consider the many benefits this project generates for our community,” said Rik Ganderton, President and CEO, Rouge Valley Health System. “There are the obvious health care benefits as well as many economic spin-offs that come as a result of the construction phase and the ability to attract highly skilled professionals to our state-of-the-art hospital.”

KPMG LLP completed a value for money (VFM) assessment and projected an estimated $11.3 million (12.8 per cent) million in savings compared to the estimated cost using a traditional procurement model.  

The VFM report is available on Infrastructure Ontario's website along with the project agreement.  The VFM report provides a summary of the project costs, including the cost of the contract with Aecon Buildings, transaction costs and other ancillary costs. 

Infrastructure Ontario and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care are working with the Rouge Valley Health System to redevelop the Ajax and Pickering Hospital, which will remain publicly owned, publicly controlled and publicly accountable. Infrastructure Ontario is a Crown corporation dedicated to managing some of the province's larger and more complex infrastructure renewal projects - ensuring they are built on time and on budget.

This project is guided by principles outlined in the province's Building a Better Tomorrow framework, which ensures public ownership of core assets such as hospitals, schools, and water and wastewater facilities. 

Contacts: 

Amy Tang 
Minister's Office 
Public Infrastructure Renewal 
416-325-4048 

Anne Boody
Infrastructure Ontario 
416-325-2939

David Brazeau 
Rouge Valley Health System 
416-284-8131, Ext. 4010