TIMELINE: HOSPITAL'S ROAD TO REDEVELOPMENT

ALLISTON'S NEW $183-MILLION HOSPITAL SET TO BREAK GROUND IN 2025

Stevenson Memorial Hospital (SMH) in Alliston has made a lot of progress toward redevelopment over the past several years, but the gains have been hard fought and slowly achieved.

At nearly 60 years old, and with an emergency department that was originally designed to treat a fraction of the patients it currently serves every year, the hospital is well overdue for reconstruction.

The $183-million, stateof-the-art building will be double the size of the current facility at about 161,000 square feet, with nine new in-patient beds being added, increasing the total number to 47 from 38. The building will feature a revitalized emergency department, a new birthing suite, triple the amount of parking spaces, new outpatient rooms and lab space.

The project has now reached the design phase, and it's anticipated construction of the new facility could begin in 2025.

Here's a quick overview of some of the pivotal moments that have taken place on the road to redevelopment.

2015

JUNE — SMH submits its Stage 1 submission for redevelopment. The redevelopment process starts with a pre-submission component, followed by six stages. The government typically makes a funding commitment at Stage 2, which provides a detailed look at the services that will be offered at the new facility, as well as space requirements.

2016

SEPT. 27 — The Central Local Health Integration Network (CLHIN) endorses the hospital's Stage 1, Part A submission, and

forwards it to the capital

branch of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. The endorsement came more than a year after the hospital made the 600-page submission.

2017

APRIL 19 — The Transforming Stevenson fundraising campaign officially kicks off. The campaign's originally goal was to raise $8 million for the hospital's redevelopment project, but this would be relaunched and rebranded with a much higher goal more than two years later.

2018

NOV. 13 — The hospital receives a $500,000 planning grant that was promised about nine months earlier by the Liberal government. The grant covered the costs of the Stage 1 submission,

which had already completed, but had to be revised to address 13 questions from the ministry.

2019

APRIL — SMH gets mentioned in the Building and Renewing Ontario Hospitals section of the budget, but the report lacks any specific funding commitments or approval timelines.

SEPTEMBER — SMH is mentioned in the P3 (Public-Private Partnership) market update. SimcoeGrey MPP calls this a "very positive sign" of the Ford government's commitment to health care and hospitals in the riding.

OCT. 2 — The hospital relaunches its Because of You, We Can campaign, to raise $43 million for the redevelopment project, as

well as for the health information system and annual equipment needs. During the event, a new thermometer fundraising sign was unveiled on the front lawn.

NOVEMBER — Health Minister Christine Elliott says the Stage 1 submission would be approved "in the coming days." This promise would not be fulfilled until the summer of 2020.

DECEMBER — SMH President and CEO Jody Levac hand-delivers the Stage 2 submission to the ministry's capital branch.

2020

JULY 16 — The hospital announced it had received approval from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care on its Stage 1 submission and been given the all clear to move to Stage 2 of the redevelopment process.

2021

APRIL 22 — During the annual town hall, it was revealed the estimated cost of the project had risen to $183 million, which is about 10 per cent or $17 million more than the previous $166-million estimate. The $43 million campaign, by that time, had more than half of that amount raised.

2022

MARCH 16 — While touring the hospital leading up to the June 2 election, Premier Doug Ford announced the hospital has been approved to move to Stage 3, which focuses on the design work for the new facility.

MAY 3 — The Ministry of Health announced it is providing a $6 million planning grant to assist with the design components.