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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, April 3, 2014 | 12 Milton District Hospital expansion -- making it happen by Michael Gregory Metroland West Media Renderings of the expansion concept for Milton District Hospital. Clockwise, from top left, an aerial plan of the front entrance, ground view of the entrance, main reception area concept, and aerial overview of project. | courtesy Halton Healthcare Services M ilton District Hospital (MDH) was facing the demands of Canada's fastest-growing community -- budding with young families -- when it held a corporate retreat two years ago to re-envision the facility. Today, the concept has flourished from brainstorming to an ambitious 320,000-sq.-ft. design -- and shovels could be in the ground as early as spring 2015. "It's been designed to make a connection with the community," said Al Coady, executive director of the Milton Redevelopment Project at Halton Healthcare Services (HHS), describing the planned expansion of the hospital, which operates under the umbrella of HHS. "We expect after that, it will be about a 30-month construction schedule," Coady said, noting the expansion will include rooms with a view of the escarpment and will retain the hospital's "community feel." The project is a made-in-Milton plan that focuses on providing the most-needed services: emergency, diagnostic imaging, medical/ surgical inpatient units, an intensive care unit, surgical department and brand new maternal newborn area. "Every department, with the exception of complex continued care, is moving into the new building," Coady said. In a community whose population has a median age of 35, serving growing families has been a cornerstone of the project. The expanded maternal newborn wing will host 17 post-partum beds, up from the current Halton Hospitals Tina Depko-Denver Michael Gregory Lisa Tallyn David Lea Nikki Wesley Building Our Health Care eight. The hospital will also open a new special care nursery with capacity for eight bassinets. MDH Associate Chief of Staff Dr. Jane Wilkinson said the addition of what's known as a Level 2a nursery is a "significant change" that will provide much-needed medical procedures. "Right now, if we have an unexpected sick newborn who needs inpatient care, they aretransferred to another hospital," Wilkinson said, adding the new facility "will allow us to keep those babies," as well as those born at 34 weeks. The upgrades and increased space are sure to be well received at the hospital that recorded Halton Hospitals: Building Our Health Care is a special Metroland Media West four-part project that explores the critical need for, status and funding of numerous hospital expansion/construction projects in Halton's four municipalities -- Oakville, Burlington, Milton and Georgetown. The series is appearing across four weeks in our Thursday edition. Today is the third instalment with a look at expansion plans for Milton's hospital. For all the stories, photos and video, visit www.oakvillebeaver.com and http://insidehalton.com/ video/4395970. 948 births in 2012-13. Early estimates indicate the addition of new space will allow for the delivery of 600 more babies annually. "It will be very nice though because it's essentially like a birthing centre," said Wilkinson. "You walk in, it's separate from the rest of the hospital, and it's surrounded by windows and greenery... it's just such a step forward to what we have now." A new operating suite will also be added to handle C-sections -- the hospital saw 275 caesarian births in 2012-13. Currently, the procedures are performed in an operating room so the new suite will free up other operating room space. Fine details are still being worked out behind the scenes, but the expansion will allow the hospital to handle approximately 45,000 visits each year. To pay the price tag, for which a total has yet to be finalized, the Town of Milton has committed $35-million as the municipal government's portion. The Province of Ontario is funding planning and design of the facility, as well as 90 per cent of the 30-year maintenance costs. see Fundraising on p.13