The Alberta government is making a big ticket investment to expand the emergency department at a hospital in northeast Calgary.
The province said Feb. 19 it plans to spend $137 million to up the capacity at the Peter Lougheed Centre, which currently handles more than 80,000 visits a year, but was designed to accommodate just 60,000.
“For years, Calgarians have been calling for the Peter Lougheed Centre to be expanded, and our government is delivering,” Premier Jason Kenney, said in a release. “We are committed to making long-term capital investments in the facilities that Albertans need to stay healthy, strengthening public health care and improving access to the services that matter most.”
The project will add approximately 16,000 sq. ft. (1,500 square-metres) to the emergency department. It includes new triage and trauma space and the relocation of the ambulance drop-off area. Along with the additions to emergency, the funds will pay for a new mental health intensive care unit and a replacement for the health care site’s aging laboratory.
Design work is scheduled to get underway for the project shortly, with construction expected to run for about three years starting in 2022.
