New regional hospital nearly complete

On the heels of a big donation towards the Capital Equipment Campaign Thursday taking them to 90% complete, we're getting news from the 5 Hills Health Region that construction on the new hospital is nearly done as well.

5 Hills Vice President of Environmental Service, Jim Allen estimates that major construction is 97% done, with exception of the hyperbaric suite.

"The construction team is just cleaning up the last loose ends. We're going through and doing final inspections, pointing out paint touch ups or the odd little deficiency and that's what the construction team is cleaning up, along with a few mechanical systems that they're just cleaning up the loose ends on."

Allen says final inspections and transitional planning are now underway.

"All the department heads and directors and managers and a lot of the staff members are getting into the building and they're walking through those spaces and familiarizing themselves with how they are going to work in there, where exactly every piece of equipment is going to be, how their supplies are stored. We're simulating a lot of that work in the coming months, before our move in date."

Allen can't give a solid date for move in just yet saying they're still working on transitional planning, testing and walk through.  An announcement is expected late this summer explaining when the hospital will be opened and patients will be transferred.