A public survey aimed at identifying the most important criteria to consider when assessing sites for a new hospital garnered an impressive 1,163 responses. The survey ran online and in paper format from August 27 – September 27, 2019, asking respondents to assess ten (10) criteria on a scale from Very Important to Not at all Important, with an opportunity to suggest other criteria or provide additional comments.
Respondents ranked Emergency Services Access as the top priority, scoring 5,775 out of a possible 5,815 points. Vehicular Access and Parking were the next two highest scoring criteria.
“The survey exceeded our expectations not only in the number of responses but also in the thoughtfulness and quality of the written submissions,” said Carmine Stumpo, OSMH President and CEO.
More than 300 respondents provided written comments totalling more than 20 pages of text.
“I want to thank everyone who took the time to complete the survey and tell us what’s important to them when it comes to their future hospital. Both the comments and the survey results will play a critical role of informing our strategies moving forward, and in weighting the criteria that will be applied to potential sites once we reach that stage of the process.”
OSMH is in the early stages of a lengthy and comprehensive approval process aimed at building a new hospital for the residents of Orillia and surrounding areas. Site selection is one of many steps in the process. At the appropriate time, the hospital anticipates inviting landowners to submit proposals for potential sites for a future hospital that will eventually be reviewed by a Site Selection Task Force before a preferred site is identified.
The Future Hospital project, initiated in 2016, is a multi-year planning exercise to identify the hospital’s long-term infrastructure. The decision to plan towards construction of a new hospital on a different site, while re-purposing the existing hospital to meet community needs, was made in 2018 following a thorough examination of potential options and with extensive community engagement.