Health officials gave media one last walk-though at the new Mental Health and Addictions Centre yesterday before the big move-in later this week.
The transfer of patients, staff and equipment from the Waterford Hospital to the new Health Sciences site is set for Sunday, but there’s still lots to do before then.
Staff have been planning the one-day move for a year, timing it out with a specific route, and even a plan B.
It’ll follow the same template as the recent move from the old hospital to a new one in Corner Brook.
The exodus from the Waterford will begin at 7 a.m. Sunday, with final arrivals at the new facility by mid-afternoon.
About 100 patients will be accompanied across town in taxis, vans and ambulances, or escorted by police or sheriff’s officers.
Care station at the Mental Health and Addictions Facility (VOCM News)
There have been packing seminars for patients, and day-in-the-life training for staff at the new site, while others prepare to move equipment from Wednesday to Saturday.
Blood collection at the Waterford will continue for the time being, and some community support teams will keep their offices until they make the move this summer.
Sunday will mark the official closure of the 170-year-old Waterford Hospital, long shunned and vilified due to the stigma of mental illness.
Collaborative art piece by patients on display at the new Mental Health and Addictions Facility (VOCM News)
NL Health Services’ Allison Winter is overseeing the move and will be one of the last to leave.
“It’s a very historic, kind of monumentus day because it was the only specific mental health and addictions facility in the province, one of the oldest in the country, so we’re very proud to say on April 13th there’ll be no further in-patients there.”
Meanwhile, yesterday’s media tour of the new mental health and addictions centre confirmed that the difference between the old and new facilities is night and day.
Even on a cloudy day, the brightness of the new mental health and addictions centre was second only to the distinctive ‘new building smell.’
From the extra width of the halls, to the 140 pieces of artwork on the walls, to the outdoor terraces, complete with labyrinths, gardens and surprising privacy from the parkway.
Outdoor terrace for geriatric patients (VOCM News)
The emphasis, said Winter, is on the care and treatment of the mind, body and soul.
But ultimately, she said, it’s the privacy of individual rooms that may be the most significant feature of the new facility.
Other notable modern differences from the Waterford, of which there are many, include wristband scans for patients to enter rooms.
Spiritual space for patients at the Mental Health and Addictions Facility (VOCM News)
A spiritual space also includes special ventilation to allow for Indigenous smudging ceremonies.
Other additions include a music studio and therapist, second-hand clothes store to ditch the hospital greens, and even tiny T.Vs with news and sports updates in the elevators.
