Nelson's new $40-million health campus opens doors

Dr. Trevor Janz was there 20 years ago when the doors closed on Mount St. Francis.

The former Nelson hospital in the city's Fairview neighbourhood operated from the 1940s to 2005, when it was shut down and left derelict. Janz was the facility's house physician at the time of its closure.

"It was a lovely building with lovely, caring staff," said Janz. "It was an institution in this place. It had been here for a long time and it served the community really, really well."

The legacy of Mount St. Francis was invoked often during a ceremony Sept. 4 to open the new Nelson Community Health Campus. The $40-million complex, built on the grounds of the former hospital, includes a 75-bed long-term care facility and a community centre that will house a variety of different health-care services.

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