Some of the new exterior sign will light up at night for better visibility around the clock.
Some of the new exterior sign will light up at night for better visibility around the clock.
Credit
Matthew Manor

Soon, new signs will be all around us at Kingston General Hospital. Over the next week, KGH's signage contractor will be installing new exterior signs in several strategic spots around our big hospital block. There are 14 of them in total, and seven will light up at night.

"The new signs are a key part of our overall wayfinding project," says Krista Wells Pearce, Director of Planning. "Along with looking fresh and new, these signs will also include directions to our main entrances, the Emergency department and the underground parking garage on Stuart Street."

The signs were designed with input from some of our Patient Experience Advisors and will include both English and French as required by the province. Some of the signs will hang above our main public entrances, while the rest will be erected near the sidewalks.

"Together, all of the signs will help people quickly navigate our block and find their way into the hospital," says Wells Pearce. "The new signs are long overdue and will help eliminate some of the frustrations people tell us they feel when they first approach KGH."

Once all the new exterior signs are up, the wayfinding project will then focus its attention squarely on the interior signage of our hospital. This part of the wayfinding project is much more complicated due to our many buildings and the final touches are still being put on the colours and symbols that will be implemented to guide people through our busy corridors.

"The new interior wayfinding system will feature signs for each building within the hospital footprint. Each building will be assigned a symbol and a colour that are easily recognizable and translatable," says Wells Pearce. "These same symbols and colours will be transferred onto the interior entrances of a particular building, to further identify where you are within the hospital, as well to add graphic interest to the walls."

Once the new interior wayfinding system is approved, work will begin on installing the new signage in the public spaces on levels 0 and levels 1 of our buildings. From there, installation work will move up into our inpatient areas before finishing up in our non-patient areas. The hope is to have the first phase of the interior signage project installed by the Christmas holidays.