Province spending $17 million on upgrades at St. Joseph's Hospital in Thunder Bay, Ont.

The provincial government is spending $17 million to upgrade the air handling system at St. Joseph's Hospital in Thunder Bay, Ont.

The project consists of renovations to about 4,000 square feet of space at the facility, located on Algoma Street North, along with the replacement of four air handling units in the hospital's mechanical penthouse.

The funding was announced on Monday by Thunder Bay—Atikokan MPP Kevin Holland.

"As systems age, obviously they need to be replaced, and this is part of our government's broader mandate to increase hospital infrastructure across the province," Holland said.

Planning has been underway for the project for more than four years. The hospital is engaging with external consultants to finalize the design before putting the job out for tender.

Cleaner, more comfortable environment 

In simple terms, the air handling system consists of a large series of fans that regulate how air circulates throughout the building with filtration, explained Byron Ball, vice president of infrastructure quality and chief financial officer with St. Joseph's Care Group.

"One of the key reminders that came out of the pandemic was that filtration and air exchange is critical to having a healthy health-care environment," Ball said.

"This project is aligned with standards that would be the same as a new building and new construction for hospital environments."

The province says the project is part of more than $228 million it's spending this year to support infrastructure upgrades and repairs at 129 hospitals and 58 community health-care facilities in Ontario. 

The renovations at St. Joseph's are being done in the older part of the hospital site. Construction is expected to take between 12 and 18 months.

"No different than what you have in your home, a modern and efficient facility to work within improves the environment for everyone that's here, whether it be clients, whether it be staff — it's more comfortable, it's cleaner and it will just improve everybody's day-to-day activities," said Ball.