New Bethesda expansion to see patients in March

A Steinbach hospital’s newest expansion will soon be seeing patients next month after construction finished in December.

The second phase of the Bethesda Regional Health Centre’s expansion project cost nearly $64-million and will add 15 new beds, with seven dedicated for palliative care, three operating theatres and a new cultural space.

“I think there’s a general feeling that patients are going to really enjoy the new spaces,” said Kyle MacNair, Southern Health’s implementation lead for clinical planning.

The Bethesda Foundation contributed $8 million for the expansion and the province funded the rest, he said.

MacNair said patients will be gradually moved into the new space throughout March.

Designs for the project were first drawn up in 2021, with construction beginning in 2023. MacNair said the 59,000-square-foot expansion stayed on budget and on time, despite unpredictable weather.

“There was some inclement weather. Of course, even this summer had some quite significant rainstorms that certainly tested the systems and did provide a little bit of disruption to the operations,” he said.

The three-level building will also be adding new laboratory space, which will have newer equipment and more room. MacNair said the lab space will offer more and faster tests than the existing lab.

Each of the 15 beds will have a private room equipped with a private bathroom and shower, making it “very comfortable” for patients, MacNair said. He noted there were very few single patients rooms available before the expansion was completed because much of the hospital was built in 1964. MacNair didn’t say how many private rooms were available prior to the expansion. Two air isolation rooms are also added, which house patients with infections and control airflow to control it from spreading, he said.

The extra operating theatres will allow the hospital to expand its surgeries or add a new procedure program, MacNair said, but they won’t mark an immediate increase as the move-in process is still ongoing.

The new addition also includes the hospital’s first cultural space that can be used by onsite clergy members or host families and Indigenous smudging ceremonies, MacNair said.

Building took place on a former staff parking lot, and the hospital had to acquire land to replace the lost spots. Since the Bethesda Place Personal Care Home and the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba neighbour the hospital, future expansion will be difficult, MacNair said. But the new building will create space in the existing hospital as equipment is transferred between rooms, he added.

The new additions mark the second expansion phase for the hospital. The first phase added a new dialysis unit, which opened in January 2024.