Changes being made at Sault Area hospital
Sault Area Hospital will be making some major upgrades to its parking system.
Starting on June 21, the system will be overhauled to allow visitors to pay their parking fee with credit or debit cards as well as provide additional parking pass options.
Devon Clark, the hospital’s director of facilities, said the new parking system will mirror those seen in major airports.
"It will be a ticket-based system where they will drive up, press a button, and get a ticket," Clark said. "They bring that into the hospital where they can pay at any of the major entrances."
The exit fee of $6.00 will remain unchanged for the time being. Visitors will also have the option to purchase a 24-hour pass for $10.00, which will allow unlimited exits within that timeframe.
Clark said the upgrades have been a long time coming.
"People were very frustrated with the token-based or cash-based system," Clark said. "It was installed when the hospital was new. We’ve been in the hospital now, even though we still call it the new hospital, for over 10 years now, and it was time to replace that system."
In addition to the parking upgrades, Sault Area Hospital is stepping up enforcement of smoking bylaws. This week, security staff received the authority to issue tickets of up $250 to anyone found smoking on hospital property.
"Being on 50 acres and being so set back from public areas, we’ve really struggled with trying to control the smoking issue that we had," Clark said and points out that there are no designated smoking areas on hospital property in accordance with provincial smoking laws.
He said that smokers must move to a public space to smoke and that smoking is not permitted on the section of the Hub Trail that runs behind the hospital.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Demand soars for solar eclipse glasses in Canada. Are they worth buying?
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.
Trump says Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and their religion
Former U.S. president Donald Trump on Monday charged that Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and hate 'their religion,' igniting a firestorm of criticism from the White House and Jewish leaders.
Toronto family doctor who called patient's body 'perfect' suspended for 3 months: tribunal
A family doctor in Toronto has been suspended for three months after a disciplinary tribunal found that he failed to follow proper protocols while examining a patient's breasts and made inappropriate comments about her body.
Freddie Mercury's home is on the market for first time since 1980 minus his 'exquisite clutter'
Freddie Mercury's sanctuary in London, where he lived the last decade of his life, is on sale for the first time in nearly half a century -- minus his "exquisite clutter."
'The lost season': Winter comes to a close as Canada's warmest on record
The warmest winter on record could have far-reaching effects on everything from wildfire season to erosion, climatologists say, while offering a preview of what the season could resemble in the not-so-distant future unless steps are taken to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Retired teacher pleads guilty to paying for sex with 15-year-old in Collingwood, Ont.
In a Barrie courtroom on Monday, a retired high school teacher from the Niagara Region pleaded guilty to sexual touching and obtaining sexual services from a 15-year-old boy in Collingwood in 2021.