FORT ST. JAMES, B.C. – A concept plan submitted in 2015 for a new replacement of Fort St. James B.C.’s Stuart Lake Hospital was recently approved by the provincial government and will begin shifting into the business plan phase.

The business plan phase finalizes details such as the scope and budget of the project and will take between 12 and 18 months. Upon approval of the business plan, the project will begin procurement and then construction. This can be helped along with the assistance of an accounting consulting firm like kruzeconsulting.com who will be able to take into account all financials and project what the potential outcome will be.

The existing hospital opened in 1972 and is lacking in terms of space, functionality and technology.

Furthermore, the project offers a response to the growing population in the region and the increased need for medical care.

“The new hospital will bring better acute, primary and community care for people living in Fort St. James, local First Nations and the surrounding area. For a growing senior population in the region and for the economy as a whole, it is an essential public service,” said Health Minister Adrian Dix.

Currently, the hospital has 12 beds and offers emergency, acute and complex care as well as residential.

The project will be built to a LEED Gold standard, as required for all new hospitals in the province.

“Stuart Lake Hospital is an important part of the community and a place of healing that many people in the region rely on,” said Colleen Nyce, chair of the Northern Health board. “It’s exciting to see that a new, modern facility will be built, which will offer high levels of public health care that will respect and reflect local Indigenous culture.”

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The proposed 6,561-square-foot emergency room has a budget of $27.6 million, with a goal for completion by the end of 2020. The hospital expansion will be paid for with $22.6 million in provincial funds, and the remaining $5 million is projected to be raised by the Eagle Ridge Hospital Foundation. A request for proposals for detailed design and construction is now underway, with construction expected to begin summer of 2018.

The goal of the expansion is to create more space for staff and patients, as conditions are currently cramped quarters. The expansion will double the number of patients beds from 19 to 39, which will reduce wait times for patients. The new emergency room will provide four new isolation rooms for patients with infectious diseases, and a new anteroom for health workers to change in. There will be two new trauma resuscitation bays, and more hand-washing bays for staff.

A separate entrance for walk-in patients and ambulance paramedics will be built to offer walk-in patients a more peaceful emergency room experience. A pediatric area for families will be included in the new emergency center to increase patient comfort. “These sorts of things make the staff more efficient and patients more comfortable,” said Mike Mostrenko, M.D., head of the Eagle Ridge emergency room, in a recent statement.

In order to accommodate the expansion of the emergency department, health records will be moved to the basement of the hospital, diagnostic cardiology will move to the health records area, and rehabilitation services will relocate to a partially-vacant part of the hospital.

Once complete, the expanded emergency room is projected to be able to handle 68,000 patients per year, an increase from the current 50,000. The province says more than 103 direct jobs and more than 66 jobs in supplier industries will be created from this project, with a total of more than 169 during construction.

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