Quinte Health is receiving $20,037,300 from the provincial government for a series of critical infrastructure renewal projects at Belleville General Hospital.
Bay of Quinte MPP Tyler Allsopp was at BGH Friday to announce the investment to update the facility’s boilers, chillers and power supply.
Quinte Health will receive $10,223,200 for boiler plant replacement, $3,445,600 to replace one of the hospital’s chiller units, $1,575,100 to rehabilitate two existing 700-ton chillers, and $4,793,400 to replace the emergency power system.
Allsopp says the investment represents about 90% of the cost to replace the infrastructure.
“Overall, these projects will double emergency power capacity and improve system reliability and efficiency. They will deliver comfort for patients and staff, and allow the hospital to focus on its top priority, delivering excellent healthcare for patients in our community, and throughout the Quinte healthcare catchment area.”
BGH Chief Financial Officer and Vice-President Ben Petersen says the aging infrastructure systems have been under increasing strain, almost to the point of failure.
Belleville General Hospital CFO and VP Ben Petersen
An incident last year proved just how critical the situation was.
“We had an event last year with one of our chillers, needing a major overhaul in the peak of summer. And we needed to bring in an emergency chiller trailer, as support.”
In late summer Petersen says representatives from the Health Ministry visited the hospital and saw firsthand, the aging infrastructure and heard from the maintenance team about the risks and constant diligence required to keep these systems running safely.
Petersen says while patients may never see these systems, they play a critical role in every aspect of care – from maintaining safe temperatures and supplying hot water to keeping the lights on when it matters most.
“It’s gonna stabilize critical building systems, infrastructure, that the entire hospital relies on regularly. And in doing so, it allows our teams to focus on what matters most – caring for patients.”
He commended the work of the facilities team who have gone above and beyond over the years to keep the aging systems running.
Aging boiler at BGH. (Photo: Alana Cameron/Quinte News)
The work will take several months to complete.
New generator to be installed at BGH. (Photo: Alana Cameron/Quinte News)
