Grey Bruce Health Services staff will begin removing the field hospital from the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre on July 12th.

The 75-bed field hospital was erected last May as part of contingency planning in case the Grey Bruce region or other areas of the province needed extra capacity to support the pandemic. A number of hospitals in Ontario were asked by the provincial government to build temporary hospitals/Alternate Health Facilities.

“We are grateful to the City of Owen Sound for use of the building, the support of City staff, and for the collaborative relationships with the City, Public Health and the Owen Sound Attack in accommodating the field hospital on the ice surface at the Bayshore Centre,” said GBHS President and CEO Gary Sims. “We are all looking forward to seeing The Attack Hockey club on the ice again soon.”

“The dismantling of the field hospital is good news for Grey and Bruce as we inch towards the end of the pandemic. We were happy to have supported and accommodated the needs of Grey Bruce Health Services over the past year,” said Mayor Boddy. “We look forward to the return to regular programming for our user groups, residents and visitors at the Bayshore Community Centre.”

The field hospital was fully equipped with beds, IT support, oxygen and medical gas lines. The facility was constructed so that it could be re-purposed and re-built if needed, here or anywhere the need arises. Deconstruction staff will create a handbook to ensure that the facility can be re-assembled, and that lessons learned in terms of the design and assembly will become part of GBHS’s pandemic plan for the future.

“When we built the field hospital, we said that our greatest measure of success would be if the facility was not required,” said Sims. “Thanks to the safety precautions and personal sacrifices made by people in our region, we did not have to open the facility, and for that we are very grateful.”

source: media release, Grey Bruce Health Services