Renovations at Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre have started for the expansion the pre-admission clinic and the endoscopy area, and relocating the obesity clinic to the hospital.
The $2.5-million project will repurpose space in the hospital’s main level and South Complex second floor. Red Deer Health Foundation is providing about $650,000 for endoscopy equipment.
Carol Murray, vice-president of the Red Deer hospital, said plans have been underway for at least two years.
“Currently, endoscopy sits adjacent to pre-admission and the only way to expand in that area is to relocate pre-admission,” Murray said on Monday.
Space for both endoscopy, for minimally invasive surgery, and pre-admission, where pre-surgery patients learn about what to expect during surgery, will be about twice as large when the projects are done.
Renovations to move pre-admission to the second floor began about one-and-a-half months ago and should be complete by the middle of June.
Pre-admission will replace second-floor reception, office and meeting rooms.
Murray said it was always the plan to incorporate more hospital services into the South Complex. Pre-admission will be in a convenient location for patients.
“They come through the hospital’s front door. They immediately proceed up the elevators to the second floor and then they’re right there.”
The bariatric clinic, which specializes in the care and treatment of obesity, is across the street from the hospital in the Medical Dental Building. The clinic will move into the new pre-admission area by the mid-June.
Endoscopy will stay on the main floor. Its patient waiting area, assessment care area, scope processing and cleaning space, along with the medical day room for various hospital care, will expand into the pre-admission clinic’s former location.
A fourth endoscopy suite will be added for the colorectal screening program.
Main floor renovations will be done in stages to allow services to continue and will be finished in a year.
szielinski@www.reddeeradvocate.com