Children, their families and project partners celebrated a major milestone for the Children's Hospital of Saskatchewan (CHS) with a ground-breaking ceremony at the construction site.
"Our government is fulfilling our promise to build a state-of-the-art maternal and children's hospital," Premier Brad Wall said. "This place of hope and healing will support high quality health care for our province's children and families. This is truly an historic day as we celebrate a hospital made in Saskatchewan, for Saskatchewan."
With the support of the government's $235.5 million investment, the facility design is now finalized marks the start of the hospital's construction phase. The initial construction phase includes piling and foundation work - approximately 300 concrete piles will be installed to support the new structure.
Construction of the main building will begin in early 2015, with the hospital scheduled for completion in 2017. The 176-bed facility will be located next to the Royal University Hospital on the University of Saskatchewan campus in Saskatoon.
"Today is a day so many have been working toward," Saskatoon Regional Health Authority Chair Jim Rhode said. "Planning and designing a hospital takes the passion, dedication and efforts of hundreds of staff, physicians, patients and families. From our earliest days working with government, this has been a journey well worth taking. A journey to outline just what services will be in the new hospital, the funding needed and hiring the right people to help us design a state-of-the-art facility. We met session after session with patients, family, staff and physicians to work through even the most basic design details. Today, we thank all those who have given so much and who continue to work tirelessly to prepare for Children's Hospital of Saskatchewan."
"Today we celebrate and give tribute to every person that has supported the dream of building a children's hospital for Saskatchewan families," Children's Hospital Foundation of Saskatchewan President and CEO Brynn Boback-Lane said. "We are grateful that our province is abundant with visionary, generous and dedicated people, who through their collaboration and financial contributions have given life to this vision.
A significant amount of design input came from patients, families, staff and physicians during the planning phase - making the hospital a true reflection of the province and Saskatchewan people.
In addition to medical services for children and pregnant women, the maternal and children's hospital will include a pediatric and adult emergency department for both Children's Hospital of Saskatchewan and Royal University Hospital.
