December completion date remains intact

There may be the odd splinter – but, overall, these are mighty good bones.

That’s the message from those charged with doing the dirty work of gutting, tearing and rebuilding, all in an effort to transform a site that once housed newspaper offices into Sault Area Hospital’s 20-bed residential withdrawal management program, a nearly $20-million project that is seeing this vacant Old Garden River Road building, relatively close to the hospital, retrofitted to a mental health and addiction treatment clinic.

Has the construction end of the project, launched in the spring, been straightforward?

“In some ways, yes,” says Devon Clark, SAH’s director of facilities.

In other ways, not so much.

“In this case, a significant renovation always imposes more challenges than a new build does,” Clark told the Sault Star in a recent interview.

“Simply because when you dig up something, you uncover, ‘OK, this was not quite in the spot we thought it was’ or those kind of things. So, there’s always those kind of pivots that have to happen in real time. Things are going well. Construction is really coming along nicely.”

Pivots were predictable. Once the project is wrapped – officials say the December completion date remains intact – the site’s interior will look absolutely nothing like it did when Sault Star staff occupied the building from the late 1970s through to 2020; Star employees now work remotely.

Work includes floor restoration in the main area, floor cutting in other sections, underground plumbing, metal framing start and structural removal to lead to new structural steel install. Some key design features include private bedrooms with private washrooms, a barrier-free washroom, anti-ligature fixtures and furnishings along with acute and post-acute wings.

“It is expansive,” said Clark, describing how much of the floor is being replaced as crews put plumbing underneath as well as electrical components.

“We’re really changing this building from what was an open concept office building with a deep floor plan to having 20 bedrooms around the exterior so that they all have a window, 20 bathrooms to go along with those bedrooms, and broken up into many smaller rooms.”

The bottom line is the building is undergoing a total 180 to arm itself for a brand-new mission. And standards for such specialized health-care facilities have likely never been higher.

“So, there’s a lot of things that go along with that, just in terms of how we handle the electrical system, what we’re doing for the air handling, and all of that in a building that’s just going to be very different from what it was, and up to all the current codes,” Clark said.

Many in the community contend any blood, sweat and tears shed in seeing this project through to fruition are well worth it given the increasing number of opioid-related deaths plaguing the community.

The opioid crisis – part of larger mental health and addictions issues that have been long identified here – continues to run rampant, while health-care agencies and other community partners, including police services, have lobbied for proper treatment facilities and programs.

SAH says that in March, April, and May 2020, the number of suspected drug-related deaths here was approximately 25 per cent higher than the average number of suspected drug-related deaths reported each month in 2019 and the first two months of 2020. And statistics show that regional opioid-related emergency department visits continue to increase, with almost 250 visits logged in 2021.

During the same year, preliminary data up to Sept. 30, 2021 show that there have been almost 50 opioid-related deaths in Algoma. The data represent all deaths where opioid poisoning was considered a contributor to the cause of death. In fact, Algoma has higher rates of death from opioid poisoning when compared to provincial statistics. For 2020, the opioid-related death rate in Algoma was 2.7 times higher when compared to Ontario data.

The road to get to this point has been long – and sometimes bumpy.

SAH operated a 16-bed residential withdrawal management/mental health unit for more than 40 years at a Queen Street location, but the crumbling facility was closed in the spring of 2020. Programs and services were relocated to SAH’s main facility, but bed capacity was reduced to comply with space limitations and COVID-19 requirements. Other services that currently exist in Sault Ste. Marie include the Rapid Access Addictions Medicine Clinic, which specializes in helping individuals with addictions.

Sault Ste. Marie had originally lobbied for a Level 3 Withdrawal Management facility, which would have offered colocation of community and hospital services, affording an enhanced capacity to support a growing number of patients with complex conditions in one location, reduced the demand on SAH’s emergency department, streamlined referrals and improved access to programs.

The Old Garden River Road site ticks many boxes for the withdrawal management facility concept; criteria for the new site included proximity to SAH, central location in the city and Algoma District, green space, public transit access and adequate parking.

Clark said neither he, nor general contractor SalDan, has stumbled into any significant structural surprises at the site, which first became operational more than 40 years ago.

“Thankfully, the building was in really good shape,” he said, adding there were initial concerns regarding the “potential” for mold in exterior walls “if moisture gets in.”

Prior to construction, the insides of all exterior walls were opened and inspected.

“Because that can really slow down a construction project when, essentially, you have to do remediation for mold, or asbestos, or anything like that,” Clark said. “Thankfully, there were no signs of that when they did that, so we haven’t run into anything of that nature with the demolition.

“The demolition went very quickly and, now, we’re rebuilding.”

The roof is being replaced – “It made good sense to do it at this time.” –  and in one section of the building, close to where the original main entrance was, “we’re actually installing a new structural roof up above the exiting (roof), and then removing the existing roof down below that.”

“The main reason for that was all of the air-handling units that need to be installed,” Clark said. “It was the easiest way of doing new structure to support those.”

Naturally, a heating and air conditioning revamp was required.

Several small natural gas boilers will be installed in the mezzanine area near the old press room, where the original unit was housed.

“So, they’ll be providing hot water heating that will go into the air handlers to be distributed throughout,” Clark said. “But we’ll also have perimeter heating similar to the the hospital where you have these panels above every window on the exterior of the building where hot water runs through that.”

“All of the new air handlers will have air conditioning right inside them, so that will be distributed that way,” Clark said.

Hospital officials have said all along pandemic-related supply chain issues are not expected to plague construction nor hinder on-time completion of the residential withdrawal management program.

That’s not saying there hasn’t been the odd snag.

“I think that, perhaps, if anyone in the time we’re living in can say that supply chain will not play any role into it, that might be a bit of an understatement,” Clark said.

“The best way of phrasing it would be, ‘We and the contractors who are working on this are doing absolutely everything to make sure it has as minimal impact as possible.’”

Officials have, Clark said, been able to join heads quickly to iron out solutions if one particular product has been difficult to come by.

“I can’t think of anything offhand right now where we’ve had to do that with,” Clark said. “But just to be able to switch and continue right along to try to keep the project right on schedule.

“Certainly, all kinds of decisions and choices and things (have had to be made) as we move forward to make sure that we’re getting things in the best way possible for the clients that will be served there. But, no, I don’t think there’s been anything that’s been too surprising.”

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