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Could things get any weirder with the Civic saga?
It now appears The Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, which share the same site and co-mingle board members, aren’t even on the same page when it comes to relocating the Civic campus.
Honest to God, how is it so many highly educated, highly paid professionals, with so many oversight bodies — Ministry of Health, LHINs, boards of governors, a premier who lived here, a raft of forever Liberal MPPs, the Ontario cabinet — given this much time, produce a plan this messed up?
So messed up, in fact, we’re back to the corner of Square One and Nowhere.
First, to clarify a simple fundamental. The Heart Institute says it initiated its $200-million expansion plan (now well underway) in 2006 “in collaboration with The Ottawa Hospital.” It didn’t break ground, for Pete’s sake, until 2015.
The hospital, meanwhile, says it began looking for a new Civic campus in 2007 — at a location possibly distant from its longtime Carling Avenue home. In other words, it was moving from the get-go, at $2-billion plus. (You will remember that Woodroffe and West Hunt Club was the first “announced” home for the Civic in 2008.)
These dates are important. They mean these two critically important health institutions were planning massive, simultaneous expansions knowing full well they couldn’t be done on the same site — yet, operationally, they’re joined at the hip. All with public dollars, all with attached fundraising campaigns.
This is building a new mansion 10 kilometres away and leaving the bathroom and garage behind. Is this not insanity?
If both the Civic and Heart Institute needed to signficantly grow, why didn’t they — paging Captain Obvious — do so together?
Instead, we now have a public rift. At the NCC meeting that gave us the still-born recommendation of Tunney’s Pasture, a senior executive from the Heart Institute Foundation made the point that the cardiac facility is legally a separate entity, not an arm of the hospital.
In timing and substance, it was a curious distinction. Wednesday’s statement from the Institute fills in the blanks. In a nutshell, the Institute is saying if the Civic relocates fairly quickly (say in 10 years), the Institute is not coming, in fact is staying put for another 20 to 25 years, maybe more.
How could it do otherwise? It’s out in the community begging for $55 million to complete the 170,000-square-foot expansion, not due for final completion until 2020. Would you give a nickel to a building campaign, no matter how worthy, knowing the structure would be demolished within eight to 10 years?
To race ahead, how does building on the Sir John Carling site — which is emerging as plan B — solve the problem of the Heart Institute? It has no emergency department. It is, essentially, the cardiac department of 40 area hospitals, not just the Civic. It needs to be integrated, not separated, from its main patient intake.
It makes you crazy. Remember, too, that building a fresh Heart Institute at the new Civic site doesn’t just throw out the $200-million expansion, it throws out the rest of the public investment as well. This is folly.
And now, late in the game, we discover in Andrew Duffy’s story on Thursday that 12 of the desired acres on the Central Experimental Farm are contaminated with salt and useless for research. This on top of the section already given over to the helipad. Seriously, what else don’t we know about this sacred plot of dirt?
The newly renovated Heart Institute is another pillar in a growing argument that the Civic should simply move across the street. That way, with some innovative design, it could be connected by tunnel or overhead walkway — and the investment of hundreds of millions of public dollars protected.
Furthermore, if the institute stays put, is there not a way the remaining Civic site (20-ish acres) could be retooled with clinics, or even flattened and turned over to parking, thus reducing the size of the footprint on the Farm?
There is a silver lining in this week’s rapid-fire developments: the plain dealing has finally started and there’s blood on the floor. Step 1 was clearing the street corner of stupid ideas (Tunney’s Pasture) and disengaged players (NCC). Step 2 was finding out the Heart Institute isn’t budging.
Step 3 is about how to anchor the new Civic close to Ruskin/Carling. In the real world — the only place our money and goodwill exist — there is no other path forward.
Related
To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-726-5896 or email kegan@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/kellyegancolumn
查看原文...
It now appears The Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, which share the same site and co-mingle board members, aren’t even on the same page when it comes to relocating the Civic campus.
Honest to God, how is it so many highly educated, highly paid professionals, with so many oversight bodies — Ministry of Health, LHINs, boards of governors, a premier who lived here, a raft of forever Liberal MPPs, the Ontario cabinet — given this much time, produce a plan this messed up?
So messed up, in fact, we’re back to the corner of Square One and Nowhere.
First, to clarify a simple fundamental. The Heart Institute says it initiated its $200-million expansion plan (now well underway) in 2006 “in collaboration with The Ottawa Hospital.” It didn’t break ground, for Pete’s sake, until 2015.
The hospital, meanwhile, says it began looking for a new Civic campus in 2007 — at a location possibly distant from its longtime Carling Avenue home. In other words, it was moving from the get-go, at $2-billion plus. (You will remember that Woodroffe and West Hunt Club was the first “announced” home for the Civic in 2008.)
These dates are important. They mean these two critically important health institutions were planning massive, simultaneous expansions knowing full well they couldn’t be done on the same site — yet, operationally, they’re joined at the hip. All with public dollars, all with attached fundraising campaigns.
This is building a new mansion 10 kilometres away and leaving the bathroom and garage behind. Is this not insanity?
If both the Civic and Heart Institute needed to signficantly grow, why didn’t they — paging Captain Obvious — do so together?
Instead, we now have a public rift. At the NCC meeting that gave us the still-born recommendation of Tunney’s Pasture, a senior executive from the Heart Institute Foundation made the point that the cardiac facility is legally a separate entity, not an arm of the hospital.
In timing and substance, it was a curious distinction. Wednesday’s statement from the Institute fills in the blanks. In a nutshell, the Institute is saying if the Civic relocates fairly quickly (say in 10 years), the Institute is not coming, in fact is staying put for another 20 to 25 years, maybe more.
How could it do otherwise? It’s out in the community begging for $55 million to complete the 170,000-square-foot expansion, not due for final completion until 2020. Would you give a nickel to a building campaign, no matter how worthy, knowing the structure would be demolished within eight to 10 years?
To race ahead, how does building on the Sir John Carling site — which is emerging as plan B — solve the problem of the Heart Institute? It has no emergency department. It is, essentially, the cardiac department of 40 area hospitals, not just the Civic. It needs to be integrated, not separated, from its main patient intake.
It makes you crazy. Remember, too, that building a fresh Heart Institute at the new Civic site doesn’t just throw out the $200-million expansion, it throws out the rest of the public investment as well. This is folly.
And now, late in the game, we discover in Andrew Duffy’s story on Thursday that 12 of the desired acres on the Central Experimental Farm are contaminated with salt and useless for research. This on top of the section already given over to the helipad. Seriously, what else don’t we know about this sacred plot of dirt?
The newly renovated Heart Institute is another pillar in a growing argument that the Civic should simply move across the street. That way, with some innovative design, it could be connected by tunnel or overhead walkway — and the investment of hundreds of millions of public dollars protected.
Furthermore, if the institute stays put, is there not a way the remaining Civic site (20-ish acres) could be retooled with clinics, or even flattened and turned over to parking, thus reducing the size of the footprint on the Farm?
There is a silver lining in this week’s rapid-fire developments: the plain dealing has finally started and there’s blood on the floor. Step 1 was clearing the street corner of stupid ideas (Tunney’s Pasture) and disengaged players (NCC). Step 2 was finding out the Heart Institute isn’t budging.
Step 3 is about how to anchor the new Civic close to Ruskin/Carling. In the real world — the only place our money and goodwill exist — there is no other path forward.
Related
- Sir John Carling site should be considered for Civic hospital, Mayor Watson says
- Sutcliffe: What's best for Ottawa must inform ongoing hospital debate
- Heart Institute throws twist in search for new hospital site, plans to stay put for at least 20-25 years
- Ottawa Hospital board rejects Tunney's Pasture as site for new Civic
To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-726-5896 or email kegan@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/kellyegancolumn
查看原文...
