The head of Windsor Regional Hospital says the construction of an expanded cardiac catheterization lab will go to tender by March, 2023.
Hospital president and CEO David Musyj says once that process is complete, it should take 12 to 18 months before the lab is up and running.
Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, announced Thursday in Windsor that the province is investing $30-million in the current hospital to renovate its cardiac catheterization lab.
This funding will expand the catheterization lab, currently operating 24-hours a day, to add a second catheterization table, with the new space to be located on the second floor of the Ouellette Campus.
The cardiac catheterization lab provides patients with angiograms, angioplasties and other minimally invasive cardiac tests and procedures.
In 2014, the provincial Liberal government announced $18-million to build a larger, two-table cardiac catheterization lab, however the project stalled and never came to fruition under the government at that time.
Musyj says the additional cardiac catheterization will help them double capacity and eliminate the wait list.
"Right now with one table in the cath lab, if that table goes down, even for general maintenance, we have to send all the patients to London or Detroit, that's not good for patient care. With two tables we can balance back and forth and make sure that doesn't happen," he says.
Dr. Wassim Saad, Chief of Staff of Windsor Regional Hospital, says time is critical when it comes to a heart attack.
"What we call door to needle time, which is when you arrive with a heart attack to the time the needle goes in to get the diagnoses made and the stent put in, needs to be ideally less than 90 minutes, and the sooner the better," he says. "When you have to transfer a patient to Detroit or London, you are increasing that door to needle time."
Thursday's $30-million funding announcement also includes an investment to help the hospital to expand its cancer centre to accommodate a new linear accelerator, which provides cancer patients with necessary radiation therapy treatment.
The additional linear accelerator will allow Windsor Regional Hospital to treat more cancer patients with life-saving radiation therapy.