Jul-2025
Juravinski Hospital rebuild supports world-class innovation
A plan to rebuild and modernize Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) Juravinski Hospital is welcome news for patients, as well as the many doctors and teams providing care. But did you know that Hamilton’s research and innovation community is also celebrating this project as a major win for those working behind the scenes to create the next generation of innovative health care technology?
“This investment will help us attract global attention, partnerships, and funding, allowing us to identify, test, and deploy the next generation of innovative technologies that will transform patient care and create jobs right here in Hamilton,” says Alex Muggah, director of the Synapse Life Science Consortium, an organization dedicated to advancing the Hamilton region’s life sciences ecosystem.
“The investment in the redevelopment of Juravinski Hospital is going to create state-of-the-art facilities for Hamilton, which will allow us to attract world-class researchers to our community.”
The consortium brings together major stakeholders, including HHS, McMaster University, Mohawk College and St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton as well as private companies and public agencies to accelerate the commercialization of life science innovation, raise the region’s global profile and foster connections across health care, government, industry and learning.
“We represent 34,000 employees including the staff, doctors and clinician-researchers at HHS who are leading world-transforming health care,” says Muggah, who is also vice president of life sciences at the Innovation Factory, a regional innovation centre dedicated to helping start-ups and scaling companies’ growth.
Both roles put Muggah at the heart of Hamilton’s strategy to boost innovation and strengthen connections between research institutions, health-care providers and industry.
“The investment in the redevelopment of Juravinski Hospital is going to create state-of-the-art facilities for Hamilton, which will allow us to attract world-class researchers to our community,” says Muggah. “This will catalyze innovation in our community as well as transform the patient experience for people across the region.”
Hamilton Health Sciences is committed to rebuilding the older sections of JH, which is a collection of buildings constructed over the last century and connected by a patchwork of hallways, walkways and tunnels.
The plan includes tearing down a large stretch of JH facing the escarpment – the M, L, H, E sections — and the F section which adjoins E, and replacing them with a state-of-the-art patient-care addition. The redevelopment of JH is the single-largest health infrastructure investment in our organization’s history and will also make JH the largest acute inpatient hospital in our region.
Hospital rooms in JH’s old wards are small, cramped, and mostly shared with up to four people to a room. On most units, there is only one shower for about 40 patients. Nursing stations are poorly located and inefficiently designed; there’s a shortage of storage space; elevators break down and some are even too small to fit stretchers. And none of these older sections have air conditioning.
Some double rooms were originally built as singles, so they’re especially small, with little space for walkers, wheelchairs, medical equipment and for nurses to move around patients’ beds.
The new sections, when built, will feature room for about 100 patients more than today, with 70 per cent more space for care. All patient rooms will be single occupancy, with private washrooms that include a shower and more room for walkers, wheelchairs, chairs for visitors and other equipment.
Hallways will be larger and elevators will easily accommodate a stretcher. The new section will also feature modern ventilation, heating and air-conditioning systems.
“The redevelopment of Juravinski Hospital is a statement of HHS’ leadership in health-care innovation,” says Muggah.
The JH redevelopment project is expected to take place in phases, over several years. The longer we wait, the farther we will fall behind.
The Province of Ontario agrees that the oldest hospitals need to be replaced. But in order to get provincial investment, we need the City of Hamilton to financially commit to the project as well.