Allyson Beauregard
SHAWVILLE – Eight years after fundraising for the Pontiac Dialysis Unit began, a Call to Tender was issued on April 21 to obtain professional services for a plan for the Unit, detailing a timeline for its implementation and costs.
Allyson Beauregard
SHAWVILLE – Eight years after fundraising for the Pontiac Dialysis Unit began, a Call to Tender was issued on April 21 to obtain professional services for a plan for the Unit, detailing a timeline for its implementation and costs.
Although the project was initially projected around $3 million, which included building the Unit and buying the equipment needed, it has been redesigned and will cost less. “The plan was modified to use space within the Pontiac Community Hospital. When all of the cutbacks and restructuring took place in the health system, space was made within the building, which can be renovated and used for the Dialysis Unit. We have projections, but the new plan will give us
something more concrete,” said Allan Dean, Pontiac Community Hospital Foundation board member.
The last day to submit a bid for the tender was May 10 and according to Genevieve Côté, CISSSO Communications Agent, the CISSSO will be reviewing the submissions and choosing a contractor in the coming weeks. The final plan is expected to be complete by late summer or early fall. “Once we determine who will be awarded the contract, we can move forward. We know how much we have … the community has raised about $650,000 … and we will soon know what else is needed to determine the sources of any additional funding,” said Côté.
Dean said the $650,000 is expected to be enough to put the Unit in place and purchase the equipment, but there will also be many recurring costs. “The
annual operating costs were originally estimated at about $1 million,” he added, noting that fundraising is continuing.
However, Dean stressed it is not “a done deal. It’s just the first step in the process of getting us closer to establishing the Unit,” he said, using the analogy of building a house.
“When you are building a house, you first sit down and decide what you would like, take steps to determine how much it will cost, how long it will take, etc, and then once that’s determined and firm plans are drawn up, you find someone to do the work, and then the building starts. This situation is very much the same,” he concluded.
