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CTV News
3 days ago
- Health
- CTV News
Costco-turned-clinic almost ready to open in St. John's
The trend of putting medical services in retail spaces is coming to St. John's, N.L., with a former Costco being remade to ease congestion at nearby hospitals. Construction crews in St. John's, N.L., are heading into the final stretch of an ambitious renovation — turning an abandoned big box store into Newfoundland and Labrador's newest health hub. Officials say the ambulatory health hub and urgent care clinic coming to a former Costco warehouse is set to open Oct. 21. In a bid to ease crowding and traffic, it will bring services and patients from other hospitals into the new location. 'Things, in this facility, are where they need to be, rather than where they can be,' said Greg Browne, a manager of infrastructure at Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services. That's a contrast to other hospitals in the city — Browne said the second newest facility, the Health Sciences Centre, is approaching 50 years old. 'Stuff is designed, purpose built for patient care, rather than retrofitted and poked in, you know, where it can fit.' The health board will pay around $4 million each year to lease the space, which is being constructed by a group of contractors calling themselves Newfoundland and Labrador Health Alliance. The creation of the new clinic space was kick-started, Browne said, with the decision to rent a renovated building, rather than construct something from scratch. 'Despite the fact that renovations have been very extensive, having a structure in place already vastly sped up the project,' Browne said. Officials say it also helped that the existing Costco layout was already open, with very little rooms or other existing infrastructure to remove or work around. One of the biggest construction jobs on site was the creation of a second floor throughout the building — something that wasn't there when the Costco's last checkout line closed in 2019. 'The second floor is poured in sections, which is part of the reason that the second floor is a bit further along than the first,' said Kim Pike, a clinical planner for the provincial health board. 'The second floor was ready to start work before we could start downstairs.' The new clinic will handle X-rays, ultrasounds, blood collection and other services where overnight hospitalization is not required. The urgent care wing will be equipped to handle non-life-threatening injuries. The site will also add two new MRI machines to the province's health care system. The location is already well-known to many people in St. John's and health officials hope that makes it easier for people to adapt to the new location for health care services when appointments get moved in October. Analysts and real-estate industry insiders call it 'medtail' — the marriage of medical services into commercial spaces like strip malls or shopping centres. While Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services has launched an ambitious entry into the genre, Browne said it's not the only one of its kind, and he's confident it won't be the last. 'I was at a clinic in Halifax that is being constructed in a former car dealership,' he said. 'This is a model that is being rolled out in other areas of the country as well.'
CBC
4 days ago
- Health
- CBC
From Costco to clinics: New health-care centre opening in east end of St. John's this fall
A new health-care facility will open in the former Costco building in St. John's in October, offering urgent care and outpatient appointments. People may know it as the former Costco building, but "it looks nothing like that now," Health Minister Krista Lynn Howell told reporters during a tour of the site on Tuesday. Howell said the new urgent- and ambulatory-care centre at 28 Stavanger Drive is opening in phases this fall and is expected to shorten hospital wait times. The urgent care centre will treat people with non-life threatening injuries and illnesses — such as minor sprains and strains. It's meant to relieve pressure on emergency rooms, said Howell, so ERs can focus on "true emergencies." Several outpatient services are also opening at the ambulatory-care centre in October, relocating from the Health Sciences Centre and St. Clare's Mercy Hospital. These include several specialist clinics and two X-ray machines, orthopedics, audiology, and appointment scheduling and registration, said a Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services statement. More services are scheduled to move to the site in December, including physiotherapy, blood collection, occupational therapy, surgery preadmission clinic, pain clinic, ultrasound and an additional X-ray machine. MRI services are set to open in 2026. There will be an information campaign in the fall to let people know where they should go for different health issues, said Greg Browne, a vascular surgeon and the clinical lead for healthcare infrastructure. Once you're inside the building, Howell said clear signs will make it easier for people to know where their appointments are. "I think as patients we're going to really see the benefits of this once we start using it," said Dorothy Senior, a patient advisor who sits on committees for the health authority. She listed the benefits of having access to all clinics in one area, colour coding, and having comfortable places to sit. In its statement, the health authority said the hub will have free parking for patients and staff, as well as an outdoor space. A pharmacy and Jumping Bean coffee shop are set to open there next year, and there are plans underway for a daycare provider. The project is coming in on budget, said Kimberley Pike, clinical planner with Provincial Capital Planning. The province is renting the old Costco site, which hasn't been used since 2019. "Clinic appointments and ambulatory appointments really don't need to happen in an acute care hospital, with all the hustle and bustle and the stress that people go through by going into a hospital environment," said Pike. In its statement, the health authority said some outpatient services will still remain at the hospitals. Ear, nose and throat clinics, as well as rheumatology, will also stay at St. Clare's Mercy Hospital.
