Eastern Health Introduces New Parking System at Health Sciences Complex

St. John’s, NL – Eastern Health announced today that its new, automated pay-on-foot parking system at the Health Sciences Complex will be in operation starting Tuesday, October 9, 2012. The new parking system means the removal of metered parking from the main patient visitor lot.

The new pay-on-foot parking system involves an automated arm and a payment kiosk system, which eliminates the need to regularly feed meters when visiting the General Hospital, the Dr. H. Bliss Murphy Cancer Centre and the Janeway Children’s Health and Rehabilitation Centre. The system also enables users to pay for parking through a variety of methods, such as by cash or major credit cards, which means that patients and visitors will no longer receive tickets for expired meters.

“The purpose of installing the new pay-on-foot parking system is to offer patients and visitors greater access to parking at the Health Sciences Complex,” said George Butt, Vice-President of Corporate Services. “The new parking operation also provides our patients and their visitors with an easy-to-use payment system, where payments can either be made at the kiosk by the main lot exit, or inside the Health Sciences Centre at accessible and convenient locations. The automated pay systems inside the Health Sciences Centre are located in the main hallway near the main entrance and the adult emergency department entrance.”

The automated pay-on-foot parking system was also designed to help improve the overall traffic flow in the parking lots, and since parking meters have been removed, it is anticipated that snow removal will also be more efficient and allow for safer pedestrian movement.

Eastern Health determined that the installation of the automated pay-on-foot parking system was the best means of meeting parking demands and challenges at the Health Sciences Complex. In fact, the installation of the new parking system was as a direct result of previous concerns raised by patients, visitors and the general public with regards to the inconvenience of metered parking at hospital facilities.

“The new parking operation is easy-to-use, and is very similar to the St. John’s airport parking system,” said Joe Dunford, Director of Infrastructure Support. “Essentially, drivers receive a ticket when they enter the parking lot, and then present the ticket at one of the three exit stations when they leave, or one of the three automated pay-onfoot systems inside the Health Sciences Centre to determine the cost for parking.”

The cost of parking in the automated pay-on-foot parking lots are based on $0.25 for 20 minutes, $0.75 per hour, or up to a maximum of $12 per day.

In March 2012, Eastern Health announced that an additional 273 parking spaces were available to patients and visitors at the Health Sciences Centre. These spaces were previously used by staff, but have been converted to a long term patient/visitor parking lot, where the flat rate for parking is $5. Eastern Health staff parking has been relocated to the parking garage at the corner of Clinch Crescent and Arctic Avenue, which is operated and maintained by Memorial University Newfoundland (MUN). The construction of this garage was funded by the Provincial Government.

Eastern Health continues to provide designated parking for dialysis patients who receive treatment for extended periods of time. There are also designated parking spots for cancer volunteers who drive patients to the Dr. H. Bliss Murphy Cancer Centre for cancer treatment. Meters are not in place at long-term care facilities within the city or at any of the organization’s facilities outside of St. John’s.

“We can fully appreciate the public’s concerns around the inconvenience of paying for parking; however, we trust that the new parking system at the Health Sciences Complex will help alleviate some of the parking-related concerns,” added Mr. Butt.

The new parking system is operational 24-hours a day, seven days a week, and the kiosk is manned by a parking attendant from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., daily.

For more information about parking at Eastern Health facilities, please visit easternhealth.ca.

About Eastern Health

Eastern Health is the largest, integrated health authority in Newfoundland and Labrador employing approximately 13,000 dedicated employees and serving a population of more than 290,000 people. The authority has an annual budget of over $1.2 billion and offers the full continuum of health and community services including public health, long-term care, community services, hospital care and unique provincial programs and services. Its geographic boundaries extend from St. John’s west to Port Blandford including all communities on the Avalon, Burin and Bonavista Peninsulas.