When the Civic Hospital opened in 1924 it was described in a newspaper article as “A magnificent structure,” and “a monument to a city’s progress.” The new hospital would herald a new era of healthcare in our region.
At the time, the sixth floor was devoted to the operating and surgical departments. Four major operating rooms were equipped with the latest surgical devices known to medicine at that time, along with an eye-operating room, a dental room, and a plaster room. Large-screened windows prevented the entrance of “even a speck of dust.”
Fast forward 100 years to planning the operating rooms of the future at our new hospital.
“When the new campus opens, we’ll have one of the most state-of-the-art surgical facilities in Canada, if not North America,” explains Dr. Sudhir Sundaresan, Head of the Department of Surgery and a clinical thoracic surgeon at The Ottawa Hospital.
The focus today is less on the physical form of the building and more on flexibility, functionality, and the patient experience. The new campus will have more and larger ORs than what currently exists at The Ottawa Hospital. Surgical suites and imaging equipment will be combined on a single floor, improving the flow of services, and ORs will be near interventional radiology suites for when a patient needs urgent surgery.
