Thunder Bay hospital solves patient drop-off problem

Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre says it has resolved a patient drop-off hassle in its driveway.

Last spring, the hospitalhospital drew complaints from people dropping off and picking up patients when it started crackingdown on stopped cars at its main entrancebecause the driveway was actually a fire lane.

A security guard was stationed to redirect drivers to the parking lot.

In May, Peter Myllymaa, theRegional's executive vice-president of Corporate Services and Operations, pledged to work with Thunder Bay Fire Rescueto deal with the issue.

On Tuesday, a hospital spokesperson confirmed that Myllymaahad issued an internal memo announcing the solution.

"We learned from the input of the hospital architect that the front entrance fire lane exceeded the Building Code requirements," the memo said. "Therefore, there was much support and rationale to re-designated the route."

The memo said the driveway in front of the hospital's main entrance will be an"assisted pick-up and drop-off lane," with a maximum parking time of 10 minutes.

Thefire lane is now adifferent section of the driveway, with the primary fire access route remaining at theeast entrance going into the cafeteria.