{"id":7286,"date":"2025-07-19T05:11:23","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T05:11:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/7286\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T05:11:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T05:11:23","slug":"from-costco-to-clinics-new-health-care-centre-opening-in-east-end-of-st-johns-this-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/7286\/","title":{"rendered":"From Costco to clinics: New health-care centre opening in east end of St. John’s this fall"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AThe new health-care facility was previously a Costco but Health Minister Krista Lynn Howell says the building has been transformed. (Katie Breen\/CBC)<\/p>\n

A new health-care facility will open in the former Costco building in St. John’s in October, offering urgent care and outpatient appointments.<\/p>\n

People may know it as the former Costco building, but “it looks nothing like that now,” Health Minister Krista Lynn Howell told reporters during a tour of the site on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Howell said the new urgent- and ambulatory-care centre at 28 Stavanger Drive is opening in phases this fall and is\u00a0expected to shorten hospital wait times.<\/p>\n

The urgent care centre will treat people with non-life threatening injuries and illnesses \u2014 such as minor sprains and strains. It’s meant to relieve pressure on emergency rooms, said Howell, so ERs can focus on “true emergencies.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Several outpatient services are also opening at the ambulatory-care centre in October, relocating from the Health Sciences Centre and St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital. These include several specialist clinics and two X-ray machines, orthopedics, audiology, and appointment scheduling and registration, said a Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services statement.<\/p>\n

\"DorothyDorothy Senior, Krista Lynn Howell, Kimberly Pike and Greg Browne (l to r) on a media tour of the new health-care facility. (Jess Singer\/CBC)<\/p>\n

More services are scheduled to move to the site in December, including physiotherapy, blood collection, occupational therapy, surgery preadmission clinic, pain clinic, ultrasound and an additional X-ray machine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MRI services are set to open in 2026.<\/p>\n

There will be an information campaign in the fall to let people know where they should go for different health issues, said Greg Browne, a vascular surgeon and the clinical lead for healthcare infrastructure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

WATCH | Get a first look inside the new urgent-care centre: \"\"<\/p>\n

New urgent-care centre years in development expected to open this fall<\/p>\n

Work to turn the former Costco building in St. John’s into a new urgent-care centre has been underway for some time, but members of the media got a first-look tour of the facility on Tuesday ahead of a projected opening in the fall. As the CBC\u2019s Jessica Singer reports, officials hope it will lessen the burden on overwhelmed emergency rooms.<\/p>\n

Once you’re inside the building, Howell said clear signs will make it easier for people to know where their appointments are.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I think as patients we’re going to really see the benefits of this once we start using it,” said Dorothy Senior, a patient advisor who sits on committees for the health authority.<\/p>\n

She listed the benefits of having access to all clinics in one area, colour coding, and having comfortable places to sit.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe new healthcare facility on Stavanger Drive is scheduled to open on October 21, 2025. (Jess Singer\/CBC)<\/p>\n

In its statement, the health authority said the hub will have free parking for patients and staff, as well as an outdoor space. A pharmacy and Jumping Bean coffee shop are set to open there next year, and there are plans underway for a daycare provider.<\/p>\n

The project is coming in on budget, said Kimberley Pike, clinical planner with Provincial Capital Planning. The province is renting the old Costco site, which hasn’t been used since 2019.<\/p>\n

“Clinic appointments and ambulatory appointments really don’t need to happen in an acute care hospital, with all the hustle and bustle and the stress that people go through by going into a hospital environment,” said Pike.<\/p>\n

In its statement, the health authority\u00a0said some outpatient services will still remain at the hospitals. Ear, nose and throat clinics, as well as rheumatology, will also stay at St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital.<\/p>\n

Download our free CBC News app<\/a> to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here<\/a>. Click here to visit our landing page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The new health-care facility was previously a Costco but Health Minister Krista Lynn Howell says the building has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":["post-7286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}