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Erie Shores HealthCare has officially opened its newly renovated discharge lounge in Leamington, a space designed to cut hospital wait times and improve the patient experience.
Hospital leaders and local politicians marked the opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday. They say the lounge is a practical solution to patient flow challenges, particularly during peak demand in the emergency department.
Erie Shores HealthCare is a 72-bed community hospital serving Essex County. It provides 24-hour emergency care, inpatient services, surgery, obstetrics, outpatient clinics and diagnostic services.
According to the Erie Shores HealthCare, the discharge lounge provides a dedicated, private area for patients who are medically ready to go home but are waiting for transportation, prescriptions or final discharge instructions. By moving those patients out of inpatient rooms sooner, staff can clean and turn over beds faster, allowing new patients to be admitted without delay.
The Erie Shores Health Foundation supported the renovation.
The lounge is part of an admission and discharge unit (ADU) that hospital officials say has already delivered measurable results.
Penny J. Bellhouse, executive director of Erie Shores Health Foundation, says the project happened because of strong collaboration with hospital leadership and a shared commitment to improving patient care. (Emma Loop/CBC)
“Within months, the difference was visible across the hospital. Operations ran more smoothly. Staff were less reactive and more co-ordinated. And patients experienced shorter wait times and faster transitions home,” said Penny J. Bellhouse, executive director of Erie Shores Health Foundation. “It’s improved morale.”
The project is closely linked to the hospital’s broader ADU model, which centralizes admissions and discharges to reduce idle bed time.
Kristin Kennedy, president and CEO of Erie Shores HealthCare, notes that the changes may seem minor but have a significant impact on patient care and hospital operations.
“As many hospitals across the province, we’ve been struggling with wait times and hearing the voice of the community and patients that are arriving here that we weren’t living up to the patient experience perspective of patients being able to see physicians in a timely manner,” Kennedy said. “We’ve improved the time a patient is in the hospital by about seven hours, and we’ve improved the wait time to see a physician by almost three hours.”
The event also included an announcement of an additional $2.33 million in annual base funding from the Ontario government. That is funding that will recur every year rather than being a one-time grant.
Kennedy says this strengthens their ability to support the services our community relies on every day, including the work happening in the ADU.
“We sit at about a $75 million annual budget. So this is substantive for us, especially in a time where we know there are financial pressures across the province for hospitals,” she explained. “This will set us up very well to be able to keep innovative programs open as well as balance our budget and not have to make as many cost recovery plans as we may anticipate.”
For the 2025-26 fiscal year, the funding will help offset operating costs tied to patient-focused services, including the ADU. That has operated without dedicated, long-term provincial dollars to date.
The space was renovated with support from the Erie Shores Health Foundation to improve patient flow and create a more comfortable, private setting for patients. (Emma Loop/CBC)
Kennedy says the cost of the new unit is closer to $3 million per year. She says she’s been working with the health ministry to try to unlock more funding, as has the local MPP.
Essex MPP Anthony Leardi says he hopes to see this model spread throughout the province of Ontario.
“The admission discharge unit has been added to the hospital services and that allows the hospital to actually serve more people, increasing the number of people that can be served at this hospital,” he explained. “We recognize that the admission discharge unit is an additional service being offered by this hospital and we’ve made the ministry aware of that.”
Trevor Jones, MPP for Chatham-Kent-Leamington, says the investment recognizes the hospital’s growing role in the region.
“Erie Shores HealthCare plays a vital role for families across Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent. This additional base funding supports patient-focused care close to home and helps the hospital continue improving access and flow,” he said.