PENTICTON – Premier Christy Clark and MLA Dan Ashton recently led the official groundbreaking for the new patient care tower and parkade at Penticton Regional Hospital (PRH) with hospital staff, community members and health-care partners.
“We all know someone who has needed hospital care – and when that happens, they deserve the best possible care, close to home in the South Okanagan and Similkameen,” said Premier Clark. “This is the value of a strong, growing economy – it gives us the ability to make investments in the services we all depend on.”
The hospital opened its doors at the current location in 1951, and the last major addition to the site happened 25 years ago. Building more patient care and improving service efficiency and patient flow with a new state-of-the-art medical building is a top priority for Interior Health and the Province.
The 26,170 square metre (281,700 square foot) patient care tower will bring together outpatient care services into one building, provide five modern operating rooms, expand the medical device reprocessing/sterilization unit to nearly triple its current size, and provide three floors of single-occupancy inpatient rooms with private washrooms.
Also included in the new tower is expanded space for the UBC Faculty of Medicine program.
“By providing a better experience to the next generation of health-care professionals we believe more of them will choose to live and work in our communities after they complete their training.” said Erwin Malzer, chair, Interior Health Board. “Interior Health provides a broad scope of specialized training and education for learners from all disciplines and is committed to providing employment and educational opportunities in our facilities.”
Construction of the new tower and parkade will occur alongside day-to-day operations of the hospital and will be integrated with existing infrastructure. The project includes two phases to minimize any impacts at the site. Phase 2 renovations to expand the emergency department and support areas will begin after the new tower opens in 2019.
After a competitive bid process, Interior Health entered into a contract with EllisDon Infrastructure to design, build, partially finance and maintain both the new tower and existing buildings for a 30-year period. The contract makes certain that EllisDon Infrastructure assumes all construction (cost and schedule), design, long-term maintenance and operational risks.
All clinical health services continue to be funded by the Province of B.C. and provided by Interior Health in keeping with the principles of the Canada Health Act. The building will be owned by Interior Health and, at the end of the 30-year contract, the health authority has the option to renew, seek other partners or take maintenance responsibilities back.