BARRIE -- Alliston's Stevenson Memorial Hospital (SMH) is about to get a long-awaited facelift.
The facility's emergency department trauma room will be fitted with new flooring and upgraded equipment and surgical lighting, renovations that will begin next week.
The trauma room hasn't been updated since it was built 56 years ago.
With roughly 40,000 people walking through the emergency room doors at the Alliston hospital every year, the small size of the building is proving to be a challenge.
"We're full every day," explains Jody Levac, President and CEO, SMH. "We are working to modernize our ageing infrastructure as we await our approval for redevelopment. Our patients, staff and community members deserve to have a hospital that is updated to reflect modern standards. I thank our community donors for making these significant transformations possible."
People in the area expressed relief after hearing the news that something is finally happening.
"We definitely, in this community, need our hospital repaired. We need a brand new hospital, actually, here in Alliston," says one resident.
Once the hospital gets phase one of its application with the province approved, it can move forward with plans for a new hospital.
The renovations and upgrades in the trauma room are scheduled to begin on Monday and will wrap up in late July at the cost of roughly 1.2 million dollars.
