Canada and Nova Scotia announced new funding to renovate and rehabilitate 40 healthcare and long-term care (LTC) facilities across the province to improve patient and staff safety and create healthier and more sustainable environments.
Hospitals and healthcare centres
Seven projects will see upgrades and repairs to hospitals and health care centres. These include the Yarmouth Regional Hospital, Cumberland Regional Health Care Centre, Colchester East Hants Health Centre, Glace Bay Hospital, Nova Scotia Hospital and Veterans Memorial Building, Valley Regional Hospital, and Aberdeen Hospital.
To reduce energy costs and emissions, Yarmouth Regional Hospital will use $500,000 to upgrade building control systems, including heat recovery devices, heat pumps, steam traps and system automation and monitoring. A laundry upgrade at Valley Regional Hospital will increase hospital laundering capacity to directly support patient care and infection control.
LTC facilities
Investments will also upgrade 33 LTC facilities across the province.
St. Anne Centre in Arichat, for example, will use more than $1 million to replace existing counters and sinks in the resident’s washrooms, expand of the facility’s dining room with two new spaces and the replace the flooring in corridors of the building to provide a safer and more sanitary environment. Tideview Terrace, in Conway, will build a new PPE storage building to increase storage for PPE and other equipment, furniture and supplies. This will also boost space for staff and residents. Roseway Manor, in Shelburne, will use roughly $900,000 to replace its security system in its Alzheimer Care Unit.
In total, 39 projects will undergo building and system upgrades. Canada is allocating more than $11.4 million through the COVID-19 Resilience Stream of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program. Nova Scotia is contributing more than $2.8 million.
A COVID-19 Resilience Stream was added to the over $33-billion Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program to help fund pandemic-resilient infrastructure. Existing program streams have also been adapted to include more eligible project categories.
