Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital to get facelift
It seems odd that it took the REM de l’Est project to convince Quebec that Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital should stay where it is and have $2.5 billion invested in upgrading and expanding it, rather than constructing a new facility from scratch in a different location. Could it have cost less to build a new hospital and demolish the old one, which was declared dangerously decrepit in 2016? Why is Quebec letting the REM make decisions like this?
(Here’s a small but instructive example why I do this blog. CBC and CTV both have reports on the proposed enlargement of the hospital but left out the interesting angle about the REM. Often the only way to understand what goes on around here is to read stories from as many sources as possible, because different media are bound to have different perspectives, and mention different details.)
I’d also note that a big point in the whole premise for building the MUHC and CHUM hospitals from scratch was that new buildings would be more environmentally sustainable, would have facilities suitable for modern technological medicine, would have better ventilation, and in general would be better suited to meeting current standards. Were those arguments valid, and if so, why wouldn’t they apply here as well?
DeWolf 10:33 on 2021-08-20 Permalink
It probably comes down to cost. Historically, it has usually been cheaper to knock down an old building and build a new one from scratch than it is to undertake a complicated renovation to bring something up to present-day codes and standards. But demolition and redevelopment is almost always more environmentally destructive because any construction has a huge amount of embodied carbon emissions.
In the case of the MUHC, I’m pretty sure that if you crunched the numbers, building two entirely new superhospitals was an environmental disaster, especially in the case of the more suburban-style Glen campus, which also involved new roadways. But it would have cost a lot more money to bring the Royal Vic and other old hospitals up to standard.
In the case of Rosemont, maybe the recent surge in construction costs means it’s finally cheaper to renovate and rehabilitate than it is to build from scratch. I don’t think it would be possible to build an entirely new hospital for less than $2.5 billion.
ant6n 11:05 on 2021-08-20 Permalink
Renovation of poorly located hospital to boost poorly planned transit project. Sounds very Quebec.
mare 11:09 on 2021-08-20 Permalink
@DeWolf Indeed, a new hospital with the amount of beds Maissoneuve-Rosemont hospital has, would certainly cost more, but it could be built to current standards and would be more comfortable for patients (air condition!) and staff alike.
Retention of staff is a big problem in hospitals, especially during (and after) Covid, and the current work conditions in our old decrepit hospitals (and that’s almost all of them) are not very appealing. But healthcare budgets come out of the provincial coffers and Montreal is the evil metropolis where people are brown, speak English and don’t vote for the CAQ so I don’t have high hopes. Every hospital in Montreal needs millions, even the CHUM and MUHC so they can open unused areas (currently used for Covid patients AFAIK) that they had to keep closed because of budget restraints.
I’ve been in a few hospitals in Montreal in the past years and also in Ottawa and the difference is enormous. The difference between Montreal and almost every hospital in the Netherlands is just shocking; when I arrived here 20 years ago I thought I had travelled back in time. And not much has improved here since then.
Some people say I don’t have the right to complain, if it is better there I should just go back. But everyone in the medical system is complaining, patients and staff, and nothing changes. We need to spent enormous amounts of money on health care and education, 100s of billions, especially now after the waiting lists have ballooned and people working in healthcare are worn out after years of pandemic stress. Add the aging population, who live longer but in worse health, and also increased healthcare staff retirement, and the future is bleak. (On top of the bleakness in many other areas.)