St. Joseph's Regional Mental Health Care's future unveiled

LONDON, ON, March 12 /CNW/ - Today, Deb Matthews, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care and MPP for London North Centre, and Khalil Ramal, MPP for London-Fanshawe, joined Cliff Nordal, president and CEO of St. Joseph's Health Care, London (St. Joseph's), hospital staff and hospital board members to unveil a project sign on the grounds of the new St. Joseph's Regional Mental Health Care London facility.

On January 21, Infrastructure Ontario and St. Joseph's released a request for proposals (RFP) to three companies short-listed to design, build, finance and maintain the two new mental health care facilities, which will be located in London and St. Thomas.

The short-listed companies - AI Health Group, Lend Lease Health Solutions - St. Joseph's and Integrated Team Solutions - are currently working to prepare their proposals, which will be due in August 2010.

Once submissions to the RFP are received, Infrastructure Ontario and St. Joseph's will evaluate the bids, select a preferred proponent and then negotiate a final contract. The entire process is monitored by an independent fairness monitor and the successful project team will be announced in late 2010.

The two new facilities will be owned and operated by St. Joseph's. Once under construction, this project will create hundreds of jobs and stimulate economic spin-off in both respective communities.

St. Joseph's aims to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification for the design and construction of both new facilities. LEED standards focus on healthy indoor environments, reduced greenhouse gas emissions and efficient use of energy, water and other resources.

The St. Joseph's Regional Mental Health Care London facility will be constructed adjacent to Parkwood Hospital in London. Its specialized programs will accommodate inpatient and outpatient longer-term mental health services for assessment; mood and anxiety disorders; psychosis; dual diagnosis; geriatric psychiatry; and adolescent psychiatry, serving Southwestern Ontario.

St. Joseph's Regional Mental Health Care St. Thomas will be a new hospital for forensic mental health, built on the existing lands in St. Thomas. It will provide specialized inpatient and outpatient forensic services, including assessment, treatment, outreach and support services to individuals with a mental illness who have come into significant contact with the criminal justice system.

Infrastructure Ontario and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care will work with St. Joseph's to build the hospitals, which will remain publicly owned, publicly controlled and publicly accountable. Infrastructure Ontario is a Crown corporation dedicated to managing some of the province's larger and more complex infrastructure renewal projects - ensuring they are built on time and on budget.

For more information about the procurement process and to view the RFP, visit www.infrastructureontario.ca.

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Quotes:

Hon. Deb Matthews, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care and MPP for London North Centre

"I'm thrilled to see this much needed project take another step forward. These new facilities are vitally important and will benefit our community for generations to come."

Hon. Chris Bentley, Attorney General, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and MPP for London West

"This important project will allow our community to get specialized mental health care closer to home in a state-of-the-art facility."

Khalil Ramal, MPP for London-Fanshawe

"This project is important to our community not only for the specialized mental health care services it will provide, but for the economic boost it will stimulate in our community during construction."

Cliff Nordal, President and CEO of St. Joseph's Health Care, London

"The community will now see signs of the progress St. Joseph's is making towards realization of our two new specialized mental health care facilities. Thanks to the hard work of hundreds of people, St. Joseph's will continue to be a leader in the treatment of mental illness."

    
    Backgrounder

                     TEAMS SHORT-LISTED FOR ST. JOSEPH'S
                     REGIONAL MENTAL HEALTH CARE PROJECT
    

In June 2009, Infrastructure Ontario, St. Joseph's Health Care, London (St. Joseph's) and the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care began the process to pre-qualify teams to design, build, finance and maintain two new mental health care facilities, which will be located in London and St. Thomas.

Teams were pre-qualified through a rigorous competitive request for qualifications process that evaluated and ranked the following:

    
    -   Approach to project development;
    -   Design capability and experience;
    -   Construction capability and experience;
    -   Maintenance management and experience; and
    -   Financial and financing information and their ability to successfully
        reach a financial close.
    

The three highest scoring teams were short-listed for the project and include:

    
    	   -  AI Health Group, including:

              -  Innisfree Limited
              -  Acciona S.A.
              -  HCP Canada Ltd.
              -  Acciona Infrastructures Canada Inc.
              -  Walbridge Construction Canada Inc.
              -  Kasian Architecture Ontario Limited
              -  MAPP Architecture
              -  MMM Group Limited
              -  Vollmer Inc. - Sutherland-Schultz
              -  E.S. Fox Limited
              -  Black & McDonald Limited
              -  Investec Limited

        -  Lend Lease Health Solutions - St. Joseph's, including:

              -  Lend Lease Canada Inc.
              -  Stantec Consulting Ltd.
              -  Johnson Controls Inc.
              -  RBC Dominion Securities Inc.
              -  Bondfield Construction Company Limited
              -  McKay-Cocker Limited
              -  J.M.R. Electric Ltd.

        -  Integrated Team Solutions, including:

              -  EllisDon Corporation
              -  Fengate Capital/LPF Infrastructure Fund
              -  Honeywell Limited (Canada)
              -  Parkin Architects Limited
              -  Architects Tillmann Ruth Mocellin Inc.
              -  Hastings and Aziz Consulting Structural Engineers Ltd.
              -  The Mitchell Partnership Inc.
              -  The Walter Fedy Partnership
              -  Modern Niagara Toronto Inc.
              -  Gordan Electric
              -  Scotia Capital
    

Disponible en français

For further information: Marek Kubow, St. Joseph's Health Care, London, [phone] ext. 47788; Jessica Hooker, Infrastructure Ontario, [phone]