Construction of new Pharmacy Department under way at rear of Pavilion H
Roomier facility, opening in 2026, will meet higher standards for sterility
After 40 years in a space that is now showing its age, the JGH Pharmacy Department will be moving from Pavilion C to a facility that is under construction at the rear of Pavilion H.
View of the rear of Pavilion H, facing east toward Côte-des-Neiges Road (top right). In October, when this photo was taken, the first of the construction equipment and building materials had been placed on the lawn (bottom). (Click on this or any photo to enlarge it.)
Scheduled to open in the fall of 2026, the new accommodations will be spread over two floors and capped with a rooftop garden.
Among the noteworthy features of the new site will be its roominess, a higher degree of conformity to current norms, the installation of pneumatic tubes, a direct link to Pavilion K for easier delivery of medication, improved ventilation, the presence of natural light, and a design that promotes more efficient workflow.
“We’ve been waiting for this for quite some time,” says Eva Cohen, the Pharmacy’s Chief. “It’s going to be a major improvement and we’re very excited about it.”
Construction of the $30 million facility is a major element of Phase 4, the multi-year, $300 million plan that is now under way to refurbish numerous areas in the JGH’s legacy building (the older sections of the hospital).
Phase 4 was undertaken in order to renovate and repurpose the spaces that were freed up when the JGH’s critical-care departments were relocated from the legacy building to Pavilion K in 2014 and 2016.
Due to the unique needs of the Pharmacy Department, a decision was made to construct an entirely new facility, rather than overhaul the original, cramped quarters in Pavilion C on the ground floor and in the basement.
Under normal circumstances, the first of the Pharmacy Department’s two storeys probably would have been built at ground level, with the second immediately above it, says Georges Bendavid, Director of Technical Services.
However, this would have made it more difficult to gain access to the tanks of heating fuel that are below ground at the rear of Pavilion H.
The solution, says Mr. Bendavid, is “to build in the air, so to speak.”
The ground-level area will remain open to the outside environment, while the Pharmacy Department, supported by columns, will occupy two floors overhead.
The lawn will be swapped for a $1 million rooftop garden.
By the numbers: The Pharmacy Department and Phase 4
• Age of current Pharmacy facilities: About 40 years, possibly more
• Completion date of the new space: Fall 2026
• Number of storeys in the new space: 2
• Approximate total area: 1,500 square metres (new space) vs. 500 m2 (current space)
• Total prescriptions filled CIUSSS-wide by the Pharmacy Department in 2023-2024: 1,784,973 (4,890 per day)
• Number of robots to be added: 1 (for total of 2)
• Total cost of the Pharmacy project: About $30 million
• Cost of the project’s green roof: $1 million
• Timespan of Phase 4: 2023 to 2030
• Total cost of all Phase 4 projects: About $300 million
• Government’s contribution to Phase 4: $284 million
• Contribution of JGH Foundation to Phase 4: $16 million
Bicycle racks will be placed in the newly paved area at ground level, which will be protected from the weather by the upper storeys. (Mr. Bendavid notes that few staff are aware of the lawn and rarely use it.)
Architect’s illustration of the rear exterior of Pavilion H. The new Pharmacy Department (top, left of centre) will be connected by a corridor (top, rear) to Pavilion K (right). The department will occupy two upper floors supported by columns, leaving the ground-level area open to the outside environment.
This somewhat unconventional configuration will also leave the rear façade of Pavilion H undisturbed, thereby preserving the building’s historic distinctiveness, Mr. Bendavid adds.
Unfortunately, he acknowledges, the offices at the rear of Pavilion H will lose their direct exposure to daylight, because their windows will be blocked by the new floors.
To help mitigate the effects of this change, skylights will redirect daylight to the rear offices on the upper floor of Pavilion H, while large, illuminated transparencies—displaying images such as white clouds against a blue sky—will be visible through windows on the lower floors.
Ms. Cohen says the increased space will bring improvements not only to the workflow and working conditions of the Pharmacy Department, but to its ability to incorporate new and much-needed features, such as a dedicated and properly ventilated room for compounding and pre-packing hazardous drugs.
Until now, she explains, staff have had to work in corridors and sterile rooms that were not built for today’s norms and practices. For example, in some of the current rooms, exposed pipes near the ceiling have hard-to-reach surfaces where dust can accumulate.
“We’ve made many adjustments over the years to ensure that the ventilation and air quality meet the required standards, but they’re not optimal,” Ms. Cohen says.
The extra space also means the department will be able to accommodate two robots, rather than just the one that is now in use.
Here’s what’s coming in Phase 4
The JGH has been renovating and will continue to refurbish certain areas in the legacy (older) sections of the hospital—a plan known as Phase 4. Here are some of the projects that will come to fruition over the next two years, along with their tentative launch dates:
• December 2024: Move of the Post Partum Unit to a renovated space on the eighth floor of Pavilions C and D
• Spring 2025: Launch of the new Palliative Care Unit
• Late 2025: Inauguration of the new Internal Medicine Unit and the new Family Medicine Unit on the seventh floor of Pavilions C and D
• Fall 2026: The new Pharmacy Department opens at the rear of Pavilion H
• 2027: Launch of work to expand the Division of Nuclear Medicine in Pavilion C, using the space vacated by the Pharmacy Department
The robot inserts 24 hours’ worth of each patient’s medication into individual packets, which are easily dispensed and, for safety purposes, are identified with a bar code.
In addition, Ms. Cohen says, the extra space for more students and residents “will be great for teamwork and supervision. Pharmacists and technicians will also be able to work in close but comfortable proximity, which will be helpful if questions come up or if something needs to be validated.”
If you want to help improve patient care by bringing new life to the older sections of the JGH, please consider making a donation to the JGH Foundation. You can donate online or by calling 514-340-8251.
“To make the transition a smooth one, we’re going to need a lot of careful planning,” says Ms. Cohen. “After it’s over, getting used to the new space and a new routine will also take a great deal of patience. However, all of us are confident the effort will be well worth it.”
Present at the groundbreaking for the Pharmacy project on September 4 were (from left) Georges Bendavid, Director of Technical Services; Gary Stoopler, Associate Executive Director of CIUSSS West-Central Montreal; Lucie Tremblay, the CIUSSS’s Associate CEO; Eva Cohen, Chief of the Pharmacy Department; Julie Roy, Assistant Chief (Research and Teaching) in the Pharmacy Department; and Julianne Desforges, Coordinator of Planning, Projects and Strategy, and head of the Pharmacy project in Technical Services.
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