Renovation of a medical facility in Sundridge, Ontario. Completed plans call for the renovation of a medical facility.

https://www.nugget.ca/news/medical-group-approves-contractor-to-renovate-sundridge-medical-clinic Visitors and patients going to the Sundridge Medical Clinic will have to put up with numerous changes for the next several months. At the recommendation of North Bay-based Bertrand Wheeler Architecture, the Sundridge and District Medical Centre Committee has awarded the renovation contract of the facility to W. S. Morgan Construction of Parry Sound. Earlier this year the medical centre committee approved the project which was estimated to cost $1.5 million. Of the several proposals that came to the committee to carry out the renovations, Bertrand Wheeler said W. S. Morgan was the low bidder. However, the medical committee didn't publicly state what the bid came in at during its most recent meeting. Bertrand Wheeler told the committee it's worked with W. S. Morgan on several projects the last few years and found the working relationship mostly satisfactory. Bertrand Wheeler said there were "no issues with workmanship and quaility" in its recommendation to the committee. The architectural firm also advised the medical centre committee to build a "healthy contingency for changes required due to the nature of (the) renovations". It suggested adding a further 10 to 15 percent of the total cost of the project "to accommodate (the) unanticipated conditions that will arise as the renovations proceed". Based on an earlier report to the committee, the renovations will be carried out in three phases. bid results not released for publication. The first phase involves creating a new entrance to the medical clinic and ramp so that work can begin inside. According to the earlier report, one of the first sites that was going to be renovated was the nurse practitioner's area. The second phase was renovating the doctors' areas and then finally the parking lot would see a major upgrade. Throughout the renovation, the medical clinic will continue to see patients and the personnel will move from one area of the facility to another so the workers can renovate the building in stages. At one time earlier this year, the Village of Sundridge Clerk Administrator, Nancy Austin, said that it will be hectic at times at the medical clinic during the renovations. Sundridge, Strong and Joly share the cost to run the medical clinic. As for the breakdown for the renovations, Strong will pick half the cost while Sundridge will cover 40 percent of the work and Joly will absorb the remaining 10 percent. The renovation has been years in the making and mostly due to several false starts. At a regular meeting of Sundridge council last May, Councillor Steve Hicks, who also chairs the medical centre committee, said that the renovation costs were now as high as they are because successive past councils could never agree on how to move the project forward. Hicks said one of the big delays was when a previous medical centre committee was asked to consider building an entirely new clinic rather than renovate the present building. Hicks said although everyone involved had the best intentions, the quest for a new building wasn't able to get off the ground. This meant the existing building fell into further disrepair since no renovations would be approved if the goal was to move to a new facility. Hicks has been a firm believer in that prior to the renovations being approved in 2021, the state of the medical centre has been a major barrier to attracting a second physician to the area. _____________________________________________________________________________