Preferred location for new Bracebridge hospital unveiled

Health officials in Muskoka are continuing their tour throughout the region, bringing their plans for future hospitals directly to residents.

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On Tuesday, Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare hosted its second of six in-person public information sessions focussed on plans for a new hospital in Bracebridge. MAHC officials unveiled the preferred location for the site during the first meeting held on Monday, an address known municipally as 1975 Muskoka Beach Road.

"The preferred site clearly has the best opportunities that have been identified so far that seems to be the best location to build a hospital that is efficient, cost-effective to run and very convenient for our communities," Moreen Miller, chair of the MAHC Board, said to CTV News.

Officials have spent months studying the issue and analyzing multiple locations for the planned hospital in Bracebridge, something that the mayor of the town says is needed pointing to the age of the current South Muskoka Memorial Hospital.

"I can say that the review that MAHC did or their consultant did on the sites was a pretty high level, 1,000-foot perspective on the sites," Mayor Rick Maloney said. "We want to make sure that they have all the ramifications of whatever site they choose."

As part of the plans, MAHC is planning on revamping both of its facilities. Hospital officials are eager to keep this process moving, saying multiple factors make the current hospitals in the region dysfunctional.

"We have two very old against infrastructures and we're very cramped; we're running at very high occupancy," Cheryl Harrison, the president of MAHC, said. "Our emergency departments and our diagnostic services are half the size they should be and so it's very hard to be able to have access to the care our communities need."

The other information sessions being held are:

• April 19 at 7 p.m. – Armour Ryerson Burk's Falls Arena Hall
• April 20 at 7 p.m. – Active Living Centre (1st floor) in Huntsville
• April 22 at 10 a.m. – Terry Fox Auditorium at the Gravenhurst Centennial Centre
• April 22 at 2 p.m. – Bracebridge Rotary Centre for Youth.

There will be virtual sessions held on Mon. April 24 at 7 p.m. and Wed. April 26 at 10:30 a.m.

A geotechnical study will be completed analyzing the feasibility of the preferred site once the public meetings are complete.

MAHC is hoping construction will be in the next five to 10 years.

With files from CTV's Dana Roberts