The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Construction gets underway Monday at the Flin Flon General Hospital to build an enclosed elevator that will transport patients from the parking lot to the entrance area. The elevator, expected to take at least six months to complete, was initially planned solely as a means to improve accessibility for handicapped people. But since Flin Flon's newer, provincially-mandated ambulances are too large to utilize the hospital emergency ramp, the elevator will also be used by emergency responders to wheel patients to the emergency room entrance. The elevator and a staircase will be contained within a vestibule to be built where the cement staircase currently stretches from the parking lot to the entrance way. Extending from the corridor will be a canopy under which emergency responders will stop to unload patients and whisk them to medical assistance. Ambulance crews will continue to use a rear entrance to get patients to the emergency room, a process that will be expedited once the elevator is ready for use as early as mid-March of next year. In conjunction with the construction, workers will further stabilize the emergency ramp. Manitoba Health is footing the approximate $942,000 cost of both projects. The work was originally scheduled to begin last year, but the tenders came in excessive due to a significant level of construction that was underway across the province. Manitoba Health re-tendered last spring, awarding the contract to Thompson-based Nor-Man Electrical/Mechanical Construction. Measures The NOR-MAN Regional Health Authority advises the public that the following measures will be in place at the hospital beginning Monday: See 'Notice' P.# Con't from P.# There will be no vehicle access to any part of the emergency ramp. The west side of the ramp (HBMS side) will remain open to foot traffic and will be the only access to the main floor of the hospital. Structural repairs will commence on the east side of the ramp (Church St. side) and access to this ramp will be blocked. Access from the main parking lot (up the stairs to the ramp) will be blocked and restricted to construction. The hospital main lobby door will be closed and staff and the public are requested to enter through the emergency entrance just to the left of the lobby entrance. No pedestrian traffic will be allowed under the ramp and for public safety, both ends of the sidewalk underneath will be blocked by a security fence. Watch for directional signs and observe the handicapped parking stalls, which will now be located to the west in the parking lot instead of in front of the ramp.10/9/04
