Phase 2 of St. Joseph’s Continuing Care Centre in New Sudbury officially opened June 18, a $51-million purpose-built rehabilitative facility that will ease pressures on acute care hospitals by providing a space where alternative level of care patients can get the support they need
The opening of the only standalone rehabilitative hospital in Northeastern Ontario on June 18 means more people in the region can access the specialized care they need close to home.
This was the main message delivered Thursday when St. Joseph’s Continuing Care Centre officially opened the second phase of its now 89,000-square-foot, three-storey hospital at 319 Lasalle Blvd. in New Sudbury.
After three years of construction and a $51-million budget, the new purpose-built facility features 72 individual patient bedrooms, physiotherapy gyms, occupational and recreational therapy spaces, a healing garden, spiritual care spaces, and lounges and dining rooms.
Between the New Sudbury location and St. Joseph’s original South Bay Road site, the city now boasts 136 beds where patients from Sudbury and across the region can access rehab services. A good portion of these beds will assist alternative level of care (ALC) patients who are mostly being served by the region’s acute care hospitals, such as Health Sciences North.
ALC patients (who are often frail and elderly) are people who do not require acute care services, but are not well enough or independent enough to be on their own. St. Joseph’s said 80 per cent of the people who seek its services head home.
St. Joseph’s Continuing Care now provides a place where close to 1,000 people a year can reclaim their independence, while freeing up much-needed acute care beds at Sudbury’s crowded hospital, Health Sciences North.
In addressing the audience that gathered for the June 18 opening, Kari Gervais, president and CEO of St. Joseph’s Health Centre, said the need for a standalone rehab hospital became clear during the COVID-19 pandemic, when 60 rooms at the Clarion Hotel were converted into ALC beds to free up space at HSN for COVID patients.
Nickel Belt MPP France Gélinas (right) presents a certificate of congratulations to St. Joseph’s Health Centre CEO Kari Gervais, during the opening of the St. Joseph’s Continuing Care Centre rehab hospital on Lasalle Boulevard on June 18. Mark Gentili / Sudbury.com
The Clarion site was only supposed to last three months, but wound up continuing for nearly five years — only closing last year.
Gervais also credited the Zulich family, in particular Paul Zulich (who passed away in 2024), for their efforts to make the expansion possible.
“We would not be here without Paul’s passion and the Zulich family’s support,” she said.
Also speaking at the opening was Stephanie Lefebvre, the incoming president of the St. Joseph’s Health Centre board of directors. Besides emphasizing the need for rehab services in the region, she said the Sisters of St. Joseph, for which the health centre is named, have been working to meet local health care needs head on for 75 years, pointing to the opening of the Sudbury General Hospital on Paris Street in 1950 (and which was demolished to much local relief last year).
Mayor Paul Lefebvre speaks at the opening of the St. Joseph’s Continuing Care Centre rehabilitative hospital on Lasalle Boulevard on June 18. Mark Gentili / Sudbury.com
Nickel Belt MPP France Gélinas, who was a physiotherapist prior to entering politics and therefore understands the benefits of physical rehab services, also tipped her hat to the Sisters of St. Josephs for continuing their decades-long effort to “meet the (health care) needs” of people in the region. She also spoke to the power of community and what happens when people “come together to make it happen.”
In his remarks, Mayor Paul Lefebvre called the new facility “amazing,” “world class” and “a game-changer” that “will have a profound impact across Northeastern Ontario.”
A highlight of the opening was provided by Kimberly Nykyforak, a recent University of Ottawa graduate from Sudbury who was able to walk across the stage at her convocation under her own power thanks to the rehab services she received at St. Joseph’s.
In December 2024, she began having odd symptoms, like trouble standing. By the spring of 2025, she was suffering severe vertigo and other troubling symptoms, and by June of that year, Nykyforak said she was spending nearly 24 hours in the dark due to ongoing migraines, light sensitivity and other issues.
Hospital visits didn’t help, but then in July, she received a phone call “that changed my life.”
Kimberly Nykyforak shares her story of battling an autonomic nervous system disorder and how the rehabilitative services provided by St. Joseph’s Continuing Care Centre got her back on her feet, literally. Mark Gentili / Sudbury.com
St. Joseph’s Continuing Care was there when she needed them, Nykyforak said. She was diagnosed with an autonomic nervous system disorder, one of several types of disorder the Cleveland Clinic describes “as a condition where the nerves that manage involuntary body functions (like heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, and temperature) malfunction, leading to issues like severe dizziness, unstable blood pressure, fainting, and digestive issues.”
Unable to walk when she entered the facility, Nykyforak said four weeks later she was able to walk out of the hospital with the assistance of a walker. Not only did she point to the quality of care she received, she also spoke of the talents and dedication of St. Joseph’s staff, becoming emotional when speaking about the level of care and attention she was given.
“The staff felt like my family — they were fighting for me,” Nykyforak said.
St. Joseph’s Health Centre of Sudbury offers a suite of long-term care and rehabilitative services in region, operating two rehabilitative care hospitals in Sudbury (in New Sudbury and the South End) and three long-term care homes (St. Joseph’s Villa and St. Gabriel’s Villa in Greater Sudbury, and St. Joseph’s Lodge in Gore Bay on Manitoulin Island).
Mark Gentili is the editor of Sudbury.com.