Frequently asked questions
The top asked questions about Bowmanville Hospital Foundation & our campaigns
The We Care, We Can campaign is the largest fundraising initiative in our history and focuses on encouraging the local community and businesses to help contribute to redevelopment and equipment needs of Lakeridge Health’s Bowmanville Hospital.
Although we have not yet seen the full impact of COVID-19, labour shortages and supply chain concerns, to date the estimated costs of the redevelopment and equipment is $736 million. The Campaign amount is consistent with the approximate 10-15% of total hospital development costs experienced by other recent hospital developments across the province. |
| As one of the fastest growing regions in Ontario, the Durham Region population is expected to double by 2041. To ensure our integrated, regional health system can continue to meet the rapidly growing demands of our community, our reimagined Bowmanville Hospital will undergo a significant expansion, nearly doubling its current size.
We are redeveloping the Bowmanville Hospital because the outdated facilities pose physical challenges that limit our ability to reduce wait times and improve the efficiency of each patient’s visit. The redevelopment will also help to attract more physicians and family practitioners to the area to provide additional care to the community. The hospital has not had any major upgrades to its facility in the past 30 years; our North Wing is approaching 70 years of age, and it is ill equipped to handle the volume of patients it receives. Currently, the Emergency Department is designed to accommodate half of the patients it serves annually; however, with the redevelopment, it will be double in size and provide a well-equipped facility to help each patient live their best health.
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Additionally, the hospital does not have the room to house a suitably sized inpatient unit and the permanent helipad on site has been decommissioned for safety reasons. These are both vital additions within the future expansion and redevelopment plans.
Once complete, the new, purpose-built Bowmanville Hospital will usher in a new era of health care
delivery in the Durham Region with features including:
- A modern, bright, patient-centred design.
- All private rooms, designed to enhance patient comfort, privacy, and infection control.
- Bariatric rooms designed with wider doorways, reinforced structures, and specialized equipment to support the mobility, safety, and comfort of bariatric patients.
- New ambulatory care clinics and a Haemodialysis Centre to create a health care “hub”.
- A rooftop helipad to enable rapid transport of critically ill and injured patients.
- Level 3 Critical Care capacity, the highest level of care provided in hospitals for patients who are critically ill or injured. These units feature advanced monitoring and life-sustaining technology and are staffed by highly trained health care teams skilled in managing complex medical conditions and emergencies.
In the project's early stages, construction was initially scheduled to begin in fall 2025. However, to embrace innovation while minimizing disruptions to our patients, staff, and community, our approach to the hospital redevelopment has evolved.
- For example, originally, a phased construction approach was considered, which would have involved staggered renovations and the construction of temporary buildings to maintain aspects of the hospital’s operations.
- We have since developed a strategy to build the new hospital entirely on-site, while the current Bowmanville Hospital remains fully functional.
- Constructing a brand-new, purpose-built Bowmanville Hospital enables us to carry out construction on-site without impacting essential operations, including the emergency department and other critical services.
We are building a brand-new Bowmanville Hospital, purpose-built for the future to add more beds, expand critical care services and introduce state-of-the-art facilities, ensuring that we can continue to provide high quality care to the growing Durham Region community. The existing building will be completely replaced once the project is complete.
Building a hospital is a complex, multi-year process involving multiple steps from early planning and engagement to procuring and partnering with a design/build construction partner.
Progress is underway, and we are working towards our next milestone: issuing the Request for Proposals (RFP) in mid-2025 to choose the company that will design and construct the redeveloped hospital.
The RFP is a document that sets out a list of detailed conditions and the contract documents for the project.
Because the proposals need to be extremely detailed, the short-listed teams invited to respond to the RFP generally require approximately six months to prepare their proposals for submission.
Infrastructure Ontario and Lakeridge Health will then evaluate the proposals to identify the submission that best meets the project requirements including financial objectives. The proposal submission review process is extensive and can take two to three months. A preferred proponent is then selected, and a final contract negotiated over the course of multiple months.
Once the final contract is signed, the winning bidder is announced, drawings and designs are finalized, and construction can begin.
This project is a historic investment in the future of health care for the Durham Region.
- For construction projects like this one, the Government of Ontario covers the majority of construction costs, while the hospital community must cover the remainder of construction costs, plus 100% of the funds needed to equip the facility including beds, diagnostic machines, medical equipment, wheelchairs, furniture, etc.
- The community funding requirement is called the local share cost which is raised by the local community through the Bowmanville Hospital Foundation’s fundraising campaigns and donations, support from municipal and regional governments, and revenue from on-site parking and retail initiatives.
- Through the fundraising efforts of Bowmanville Hospital Foundation’s We Care, We Can campaign and the support of Lakeridge Health Corporation, local government funding commitments from the Region and Municipality currently total $62.7 million. This highlights a significant and shared commitment in the future of health care in the Durham Region that we are incredibly grateful and appreciative of.
At this stage in the project, we do not yet have an exact figure for the total project and local share cost. Once the construction partner is selected, we will be in a better position to provide accurate timelines and financial commitments.
It is difficult to commit to specific start and completion dates before selecting a construction partner.
The selected company will provide a detailed timeline and schedule with its bid submission.
During construction, our priority is to make sure that patient care and ongoing access to services are not impacted.
There may be temporary changes to parking, entrances, or pathways, but we will communicate these changes well in advance and ensure that alternate routes and services are clearly marked.
The hospital will increase the number of beds from 78 to a final built capacity of 178 beds, and in accordance with ministry guidelines, private patient rooms will also be featured within the redeveloped hospital.
| We understand that the Emergency Department (ED) plays a vital role in supporting community members during a crisis and its importance connecting patients to health-care staff.
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During the expansion and redevelopment, the ED will remain open.
Bowmanville Hospital will continue to be home to the Regional Eye Centre providing care to residents of the Municipality of Clarington, Durham and beyond!
There is a new and expanded dialysis area planned as part of the redevelopment project. We are in discussions with the Ministry of Health regarding the `opening day’ dialysis capacity and the space is designed to be easily expanded for the anticipated growth forecasted for this critical service.
Yes, this is a critical planning consideration, and we must keep operations in tact during the construction activities. The phasing of the construction will be further defined through the Design-Build-Finance RFP process but our expectation is that work on the new hospital will occur in what is now the parking lot and once that is completed, services and patients will move into the new building and allow for selected demolition and renovations to occur at the existing site. At this time, we are expecting construction activities to take 30-36 months.
The provincial government will cover 90% of the capital costs leaving the Hospital and Foundation responsible for 10% -15% of the capital cost and ALL of the equipment cost. Under the model, the Hospital and Foundation share is expected to be provided at Substantial Completion (similar to buying down a mortgage).
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All donations received from the previous, “Touching Lives” campaign have been put into a building fund, which will be allocated to the expansion and redevelopment of the Bowmanville Hospital. The Foundation graciously thanks these contributors and will be recognizing those that did not wish to remain anonymous.
| On March 11, 2022, the Government of Ontario announced that Lakeridge Health’s Bowmanville Hospital is moving to Stage 2 of its redevelopment and expansion plans.
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Stage 2 is focused on the detailed operational requirements of each program within the redeveloped hospital site. This includes how each program and department (including our important Auxiliary and Foundation partners) are situated relative to each other to support efficient operations, patient flow and experience, the equipment requirements to support expected patient volumes and service offering, and preliminary design layouts that reflect those decisions. The outcome of Stage 2 is a Functional Plan that is endorsed by all stakeholders. The Functional Plan serves as the basis for Stage 3, which is defining the detailed specifications that are required by Lakeridge Health that will be tendered to the market.
Lakeridge Health Corporation is responsible for the redevelopment of the Lakeridge Health Bowmanville Hospital. There will be a comprehensive contractual agreement between Lakeridge Health and the private sector design-build consortium. Infrastructure Ontario will be deeply involved in facilitating the tendering and contractual processes.
The redeveloped Bowmanville Hospital will remain at its current address, 47 Liberty St S, Bowmanville ON, L1C 2N4.
Updates on the hospital’s redevelopment can be found on our website: https://thebowmanvillehospitalfoundation.com/ or https://www.lakeridgehealth.on.ca/.
The Bowmanville Hospital Foundation has put together the We Care, We Can Awareness Initiative which encourages local businesses to become an Ambassador of the Foundation and help to spread awareness in support of the redevelopment of Bowmanville Hospital. Additional ways small businesses can support the Campaign include third party events and sharing our updates on social media.
| Donations can be made through any of the following ways:
One Time Gifts One time gift donations are a great option for those looking to begin their contribution journey or to simply donate once to the cause.
Monthly Donation A monthly donation allows individuals to give a specified amount each month to the Bowmanville Hospital Foundation and can be changed anytime. This donation can be made by setting up automatic charges to your credit card or you can mail us a void cheque along with the information necessary on the Donation Form.
Hosting an Event Hosting a fundraising event is a great way to bring community together and help spark conversation surrounding important topics such as the expansion and redevelopment of Bowmanville Hospital!
Bowmanville Hospital Foundation’s We Care, We Can Awareness Initiative held each year is a strong example of the success local businesses and individuals can have planning fundraising events in support of Bowmanville Hospital.
If you’re interested in holding a fundraising initiative on our behalf or being a part of the next, We Care, We Can Awareness Initiative, please contact the Foundation at 905-623-3331 x 21881 or bhfoundation@lh.ca to learn more.
Gifts of publicly traded securities (stocks, bonds, mutual funds) This donation option is one of the most tax-efficient ways to give as you will not need to pay capital gains tax.
In Celebration, Memory or Honour
A pledge of a larger gift may be made and paid over time, allowing for a greater impact to patient care and services at the Bowmanville Hospital. The Foundation recognizes all pledged gifts of $1,000 or greater on the donor wall located in the main lobby of the Bowmanville Hospital. |
| If interested, donations can be made by:
Phone: (905)-623-3331 x 21881
In person at 47 Liberty Street South, Bowmanville ON L1C 2N4. Inside of Bowmanville Hospitals main entrance, there is a donation box located in the lobby.
47 Liberty Street South |
The Bowmanville Hospital Foundation offers naming opportunities during capital campaigns. Generally, capital gifts may be considered for a naming opportunity at the $25,000 level or higher; however, naming opportunities remain specific to each campaign and require approval from the Board of Directors and Lakeridge Health.
Please contact mpetri@lh.ca for more information on naming.
| It is with gratitude that we honour the generous contributions of our donors in the public spaces within Bowmanville Hospital (with the exception of those who wish to remain anonymous).
Our donor walls are just one of the ways we say thank you and encourage others to follow in your footsteps.
Other ways in which donors can be recognized is through various naming opportunities:
Functional Areas and other Small Areas · $25k to below $100k – Patient Rooms/Conference Rooms · $100k to below $250k – Common Area/Waiting Room · $250k to below $500k – Suites (e.g., Birthing Suite) · $500k to below $1M – High Traffic Areas (e.g., Nursing Station)
Larger Static Area/Assets · $1M to below $5M – Service/Partial Floor · $5M to below $10M – Floor · $10M to below $15M – Tower or Wing |
$15M+ – Negotiated Recognition
| Yes, all receipts will be issued as per CRA guidelines. By donating you may receive as much as 53% of the amount you donated back at tax-time.
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E.g., For every $1,000 donated, approximately $361.38 will be returned to you. Please note that this calculation does not take into account all tax situations and is not applicable to corporations.
Contact us by phone or email. 905-623-3331 x 21881 or bhfoundation@lh.ca