Local Doctor & Wife Confident
By Scott A. Sumner
Thunder Bay Business
It is great to see the Mapeso's stepping out and investing their time and money in this project, a $1.4 million dollar clinic plus land cost and tenant fit ups. stated Reinhart Neufeld, Project Manager for Manitoba and NW Ontario of Dominion Construction. His feelings seem to
be echoed by many as construction begins on this one storey 10,000 square foot building on a 3.5 acre lot with the Thunder Bay Country Club number 3 and 4 fairways in view and the new Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre one block away.
We have our offices currently in West Arthur Place and wanted to be nearer the hospital. There is a cost to leasing a space and we wanted the option of running our own building.The timing was good as well as there was a property available near the hospital and a
combination of things happened so we decided to go for it, smiled Grace Mapeso, President of Corrales Medical Management Inc. We are paying rent per year and we don't see this again.The property came available at what we felt was a good price, one block away from the
hospital. We will build a small building and the travel time to the hospital will be less. We are not in it for big profits but looking at the long term. In a way it is good because we have an asset.We can see what we are paying for.
Gabriel Mapeso is a general and trauma surgeon, who has been in Thunder Bay for 10 years. The only reason I can function very well is because my manager is my wife. We enjoy Thunder Bay. It is not too big and not too small a city. We have lived in Toronto when we first
came to Canada from the Phillipines. As well we lived in a 900 population town in Newfoundland, noted Dr. Gabriel Mapeso. I did medical school in the Phillipines and about 1 year after I finished came to Toronto and then found a physicians job in Newfoundland. We
immigrated because conditions were so bad at that time in the Phillipines. My dad wanted me to go and choose Canada.
We are so lucky in Canada. You could survive in the Phillipines very decently on about $500 per month including food and everything. In fact there are many Germans there because they get good value for their money. However if you work in the Phillipines it is not enough to
live on. The population of the Phillipines is around 82 million on a land mass under the size of Newfoundland. smiled Dr. Gabriel Mapeso.
The new building to be called Golf Links Community Clinic is 10,000 square feet in size. We have one tenant and there are others interested in going in there. We have been waiting as it took so long for the building permit. We had red tape. Our building permit was applied for December 14, 2005 and it was sitting there formany months when we were told March 2007 we would be digging and then that didn't happen. So I lost my patience and we contacted the MPP and the mayor, noted Grace Mapeso. After that things started to move. It was farm land before so not too difficult of a lot and on Golf Links Road. If you want to play golf it is across the road. We can design the office exactly for our needs.
The Golf Links Community Clinic will be a one storey building. We had ambitious plans orginally but reality set in quickly and it will be a 100 feet by 100 feet structure. The parking lot will face the road and we will put steel siding panels with different colours, stated
Dr. Gabriel Mapeso. This opportunity we liked. I can survive with less than 1000 square feet for our own office but Grace wants 1500. We want other physicians to come in and share costs for a year or so when they are starting up.When I came here to Canada I stayed with one
physician and had no start up costs. All I had to do was pay a percentage of what I made.That was very good. After a year I felt comfortable and went on my own. I think it is a good idea. It is a
common practice and a lot of people want to see how it is here and when they are comfortable they can build their own office.
Dominion Construction have dug and filled the site and are hoping to be finished September 15 and have tenants move in by October 1, 2007. Dominion has everything flow charted week by week. When I first came here 10 years ago I was a little bit disappointed
with the North- South mentality of Thunder Bay. It was a big issue. I really believe the hospital was a good catalyst to get the people together.There were many against the new hospital and I couldn't understand why but I think it is for the better smiled Dr Gabriel Mapeso. We are getting more investment from the government and they are paying attention to the North but I don't think it is enough compared to Toronto. Sometimes we think the decisions are made for the benefit of the Toronto area. There has been more attention here recently with the new hospital, the new medical school, the cancer clinic and research centre. There is a lot going on and I am happy it is getting better.
We are making an investment here and are here for the long term.Thunder Bay is a good area to raise your children.They have room to play. In Toronto you can not leave your small child alone. You have to watch them like a hawk there, noted Grace Mapeso. In an average day I wake up and get my 10 year old son ready for school. I'll do some chores and some business on telephone at home with no interruptions. At 10:30 or 11 am I am at the office and it is not
stop from then on. I come home at 5:30 and get my son ready and drive him to his sports or piano lessons. I am out all the time and always in my car.
We eat supper at 9pm usually. Grace also does all of my billing to OHIP. There is so much information required and if one piece is wrong they reject the claim.There is a period of 6 months when you can't claim it anymore,noted Dr Gabriel Mapeso. My day can include the
surgery up to 4 times like on Monday in the morning, afternoon, 6pm as well as midnight.There is the office and could be other procedures like scoping. If you are on call you can be in anytime of the day or night. If they need me I have to leave my office and go to the hospital and
then come back.
I think in our lifestyle in North America we do well economically but there is a cost to our health care system. We ignore some important health areas. We can eat what ever we want but not all things are good\ or us. noted Dr Gabriel Mapeso.
Dominion Construction Is The Contractor
e have been working for two weeks ow. The rain storms slowed us down because of the trucks not etting in but it is actually a very good site.We had to build a emporary road off Burwood with Nadin Contracting which is a very rofessional firm, noted Bob Rodger, Construction Superintendent for ominion Construction and the Golf Links Community Clinic.
The main entrance will be off Golf Links Road and we will have to go hrough a high voltage hydro corridor as well as gas lines, telephone nd other cables. The hydro right of way requires quite a set back from he Golf Links Road on the 3.5 acre lot. The building will be at the
back of the site to allow for expansion of the building later. The plumbing and electrical are going in first as it is a slab on rade and the services must go in first. We will pour the slab shortly nd it will be a wood structure.The exterior finish will be bricks on he bottom and siding above that with a flat roof and air conditioning n the rooftop which will be almost invisible as the owners didn't ant them noticable. The windows will be very good from AFG, a national
company. There will be a large parking lot for the tenants, noted odger. I think the building will be an excellent building that will ook good. It is well designed as a lot of time was spent on the
layout. The building is on a tight schedule. We have our trades on oard. Weather is a factor as well. Hydro One and Centra Gas have been ooperative. Bob Rodger was 15 when he did his apprentice in 1954. is first project for Dominion was the NAC Hangar.
We have been hired as construction managers for the project by orrales Medical Management Inc., lining up all the subtrades. It is a ery nice, interesting project for Thunder Bay in that we have room for doctors to set up their offices. The owners have a nice sized lot in
which they can expand and we see no problems with the schedule.We want he tenants doing their fit up in September to move in October, tated Reinhart Neufeld, Project Manager for Manitoba and NW Ontario of ominion Construction. We really enjoy Thunder Bay and working
here. There are some very good sub trades that work for us in Thunder ay.We have built quite a good reputation in town and we would like to ontinue that. I really enjoy coming to Thunder Bay as it is a eautiful city. We enjoy working with all the clients and subtrades oing design build, tender projects or being construction managers. his is a fairly standard project and something we enjoy building.
