West Park CEO Anne-Marie Malek with Lorraine LeBlanc, one of the hospital’s respiratory outpatients.
More services required by an aging population and an increase in the prevalence of chronic disease and comorbid conditions are driving plans to build a new state-of-the-art hospital building and expanded indoor and outdoor therapy space at Toronto's West Park Healthcare Centre.
West Park, located on a scenic 27-acre campus on the Humber River, will add new services to those it already offers.
"Our vision is to create an integrated campus of care that truly acts as a model for the future, for patient care, education and research," says West Park's CEO Anne-Marie Malek.
"West Park Foundation has embarked on an ambitious campaign to raise $80-million to support the capital costs of the new hospital," says Joanne Cole, CEO of the foundation. "It is a phased campaign, with the first phase seeking to raise $50-million by the end of 2021, the expected completion date of the new hospital."
"As a specialized rehabilitative centre, not only do we provide rehabilitative services to individuals who have had an acute care admission and who need rehab in order to return to a community setting, we also offer direct access to rehabilitative services for individuals who are living in a community setting," says Ms. Malek. "We help patients get their lives back."
Originally founded in 1904 as the Toronto Free Hospital for the Consumptive Poor to treat people with tuberculosis (TB), West Park retains its focus on respiratory health. The hospital still treats people with TB and is also a major centre for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
"We treat the most COPD in-patient rehab cases in the province of Ontario. COPD is the third-leading cause of death worldwide, and we know that only about five per cent of COPD patients in Canada who could benefit from respiratory rehab actually have access to it," she says.
The new hospital, with a 20 per cent increase in the number of beds, will enable West Park to expand its services to include dialysis and a geriatric day program. "We believe that the expansion of our geriatric services will help avoid acute care admission and help people remain in the community for as long as possible," says Ms. Malek.
Work on the site is expected to start in 2018 with completion scheduled for 2021 and a move-in date in 2022.
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