Heather Wright/The Independent

Construction at Petrolia’s Charlotte Eleanor Englehart Hospital will begin in a couple of weeks.

Wednesday, Bluewater Health officials, builders, politicians and the people who work in the rural hospital officially marked the occasion, “turning the sod” in front of the Emergency Department.

In September, K&L Construction was awarded the $14 million contract to build the new ER – a job that is expected to take between three and four years – while the doctors and nurses continue to see patients during construction.

Rosanne Orcutt, one of the original founders of Charlotte’s Task Force which fought to keep the Petrolia emergency department open, was in the crowd as the dignitaries, wearing Bluewater Health hard hats and armed with blue shovels, ceremoniously turned the sod.

She was thinking of Leo Dupuis, Sylvia Fairbank, Mary Pat Gleeson, Helen Havlik, Jim Monteith and Jane Stevenson, task force members who all had passed away before seeing their hard-fought success.

“I am thinking about the last 20 years or so, and all the people who worked to save this place, and that’s what I’m thinking about, and wondering if they’re maybe looking down,” she told The Independent, admitting there were a few tears in her eyes as the moment finally arrived.

Dr. John Butler of the Central Lambton Family Health Team was also on hand for the event. He’s optimistic about the future of Petrolia health care, saying a refreshed emergency department will help the community attract new doctors in a time when there is a shortage of emergency physicians.

“Years ago, when we were showing old facilities, we had a difficult time recruiting doctors here,” Butler recalled. “When we worked collaboratively with the town, the province, and other stakeholders in the community to get our new family health team, it dramatically improved our ability to recruit.

“When people come into a new modern building, with modern facilities, electronic, medical record, all of these things, tell the potential recruit that this is a going concern,” Butler said. “When people are coming and they’re going to lay down roots, they want to know what type of place that they’re going to have going forward.”

For Bob Bailey, turning the soil in front of his hometown hospital was one of the most important things he’s done as the MPP for Sarnia-Lambton. “That’s why I’m so happy to be here today with another major medical improvement for this community.”

Bailey credits people like Butler for pushing to update the historic hospital. “I admire the work the doctor, Dr. Butler, and other doctors and the medical staff have done to maintain, through some tough times too, when it didn’t look good. But they stayed with it.”

While Wednesday was the ceremonial start of construction, Ethan Wells of K&L Construction says work is likely to begin in early November. Residents will see the house across from the hospital removed and construction equipment move in. There will also be fencing around the hospital to direct traffic.

Inside, Wells says, work will begin in the former operating rooms first, but people in the emergency department won’t be able to see what is going on. Wells says the construction area will be boarded off so patients can still be seen.

“You might have to go to a different room or you might have to navigate a different hallway, but otherwise… as far as care is concerned, it should be just as normal as a day could be.”

While the construction goes on, the Bluewater Health Foundation will be working to raise another $2.7 million of the $5 million community goal for furniture and equipment. To make it easier for rural residents to donate, the foundation will open an office in the building have a full time staff member on hand daily.