A Winnipeg construction firm has secured a $25-million contract to build the new Flin Flon General Hospital emergency department, the latest milestone in a project that promises state-of-the-art crisis care for the region.
Twyla Storey, communications coordinator for the Northern Health Region (NHR), announced Wednesday that the NHR has chosen a tender submitted by Fresh Projects Builders.
She said the start date for construction will be determined at a meeting next week involving Fresh Projects, the NHR, Manitoba Health and the architectural consultant, Architecture 49.
The tender came in $3 million higher than the initial cost estimate of $22 million, a figure that has been mentioned for the past few years.
On its website, Fresh Projects lists some of its past projects. Among them: construction of the Mosquito First Nations Health Centre in Eagle Hills SK, restoration of the historic Victory Building in Winnipeg and transformation of Winnipeg’s Christie’s Biscuits building into a medical clinic.
Flin Flon’s new emergency department will include four observation / special care bays, two treatment rooms, a family consultation room and a gynecological room that can also be used as an isolation room.
There will also be an intravenous therapy room, a procedure room and a trauma room. Further improvements will include a waiting room layout designed to be more efficient and assist health-care providers in better monitoring patients waiting for care, among other new features.
Storey said the private sector must now raise $2.4 million for the project. That’s $200,000 higher than the initial estimate of $2.2 million, which was based on the lower construction estimate.
She said fundraising and government credits to date total $1,575,000, meaning $829,000 must be raised prior to completion of construction. The fundraising component is mandated by the provincial government.
The NHR previously said the new emergency department is expected to open in late 2017 or early 2018.
