Construction is now officially underway on the major redevelopment project at Steinbach's Bethesda Hospital. As a result, the front entrance to the hospital and emergency department has been boarded up and will stay that way for the next eighteen months.

"We've transformed our entrance," says John Stinson, Chief Executive Officer for South Eastman Health. "The entrance to the hospital has moved from the front to the back."

Patti Fries with South Eastman Health says the new entrance will be near the corner of Hospital Street and Home Street. "Once you go into that driveway you can't miss the new entrance," she says. "And the public parking will be directly adjacent to the entrance." Fries adds there are signs in place directing traffic.

Stinson says it's important for people not to get anxious when driving on to the campus grounds. "That will be very clear through signage," he says. "The key message, the thing that people need to remember is no longer are you coming in the hospital from the front, you're coming around the back and you're entering off Hospital Street.

Construction will last approximately eighteen months and for the next month or so, anyone entering the hospital, for whatever reason will enter through the rear of the building. However, some time around mid-June, the Community Services Building at 365 Reimer will open up as the temporary emergency department. At that time, anyone needing to visit ER will enter that building.