St Thomas Elgin General Hospital

Name :

St Thomas Elgin General Hospital

Address  :

189 Elm Street

Town  :

St Thomas

State  :

Ontario

Country  :

CANADA

Post Code:

N5R 5C4

Phone  :

519 631 2020

Fax  :

519 631 1825

Web URL  :

Available

Email  :

publicrelations@stegh.on.ca

Description

The St Thomas Elgin General Hospital STEGH is a 166 bed facility providing comprehensive 24 hour coverage in Medicine Surgery OB Paediatrics Anaesthesia Emergency and Family Medicine The fully accredited hospital serves the city of St Thomas with a population of 33000 and the County of Elgin with eight municipalities totaling a catchment area of 89000 residents STEGH is located 30 minutes from downtown London 40 minutes from the University of Western Ontario and 15 minutes from the beaches of Port Stanley in the heart of beautiful Southwestern Ontario

Patient care profile for 20072008 was 5900 acute care admissions 35260 emergency department visits 21037 scheduled ambulatory care visits 6166 outpatient and 1725 inpatient surgical procedures 915 births The average length of stay in acute care was 5 days Currently there are 107 acute care beds 49 complex continuing care beds and 10 rehabilitation beds

In 20072008 STEGH employed on average 877 staff including 279 RNs and 109 RPNs The Auxiliary has 64 members and our Volunteers generously contributed 34 471 hours of work

The 6 room operating suite accommodates the surgical program which includes Thoracic Orthopaedic Urology ENT Ophthalmology OBGyn Maxillofacial and General Surgery The Critical Care Unit consists of 11 beds Medical Imaging services include Xray Ultrasound CT Scanner Mammography Nuclear Medicine Bone Densitometry and the Ontario Breast Screening Program

Cardio Respiratory Services brings all diagnostic testing for heart and lungs into one area Tests include Electrocardiograms Stress Testing Pulmonary Function Testing Holter Monitors and Echocardiography STEGH also provides 24hour inpatient Respiratory Therapy Services There is a Sleep Disorder Clinic with threebed fully equipped clinics for level 2 study and a Home Oxygen Service

Salaried Clinical Associates Hospitalists see on average 40 patients a day providing inhospital care for patients who do not have a family doctor or whose doctors choose not to have hospital privileges STEGH has 62 family physicians and specialists with actives privileges and an additional 35 physicians with courtesy privileges

STEGH provides palliative care pastoral care and specially trained volunteers to assist with ER staff during crises A chemotherapy clinic operates as a satellite clinic of the London Regional Cancer Centre with outpatient services Monday to Friday Education programs include Diabetes InOut patient Apnea outpatient Sibling Classes PreAdmit Prenatal Care WeighIn Clinics and AsthmaCOPD clinics A humour and care clown program was initiated in 2001

Quality Utilization Management supports and manages continuous quality improvement hospital utilization discharge planning and case management

The hospital participates in the Southwestern Ontario Medical Education Network as a community hospital training centre for residents in OBGyn Paediatrics Emergency Medicine Surgery Family Medicine Hospitalists Anesthesiology Maxillofacial Surgery and Rehabilitation Services

History

The Amasa Wood Hospital founded in 1891 was the first predecessor to the present St Thomas Elgin General Hospital After the First World War the communities of Elgin County and St Thomas endeavoured to build a new facility in memory of those who had served during that conflict Consequently municipal and private efforts resulted in the construction of the new Memorial Hospital in 19234

After the Second World War overcrowding became a significant problem In order to address this plans were developed to expand the hospital In 1947 the provincial government agreed to fund certain hospital capital construction projects consequently the Board decided to build an entirely new facility to be known as the St Thomas Elgin General Hospital This institution opened on May 11 1954 The previously existing Memorial Hospital continued to operate as a chronic care unit of the new institution further the Memorial Hospital Trust was transferred to the authority of the new Hospital Board in 1957

Overcrowding was not just a problem within the Hospitals wards but within the nurses school as well By the 1950s the two buildings which had been used as residences were no longer sufficient to house the student nurses As a result the Board decided to modernize the whole facility and in 1960 opened the Dr JW Snell School of Nursing

The implementation of the Ontario Hospital Services Insurance Plan in the late 1950s increased population pressures on hospitals across the province and St Thomas was no exception to this rule As a result expansion plans had to be drawn up again In 1961 St Thomas Elgin General Hospital established a 10 year plan for enlarging and updating its facilities Construction began in 1964 By 1966 a new paediatric wing emergency department radiology physiotherapy and male surgery wing were added giving a total of 301 beds in the active unit and in 1970 our Cardiac Unit opened

More specialized care combined with the persistent inflation of the 1970s led to escalating costs and chronic shortage of resources The 1980s brought development of an ICUCCU progressive care area with a bed capacity of thirteen and the operating rooms were renovated bringing a total of operating rooms to six plus one recovery room

Major construction again took place in 1990 providing new space for Materiels Management including Central Stores and Central Supply Rehabilitation Services and Long Term Care beds in the Continuing Care Centre Patients were transferred to the new CCC from the old Memorial Hospital which was then closed Improvements in services continued through the 1990s with advances in information technology and the addition of a CT Scanner Bone Mineral Densitometer Sleep Lab and Mammography Suit all helping to make the hospital a centre of diagnostic excellence for Elgin County

The Hospital looks to the future with a building renewal project to update the facility to meet the changing health care needs of our growing community When approved by the Ministry of Health and Long term Care this project will include renovations and expansion to the Emergency Department construction of an Ambulatory Care area construction of a new Surgical Suite and the addition of a Schedule One Mental Health unit