VERNON JUBILEE HOSPITAL PATIENT CARE TOWER

The new seven-storey, 16,800 square-metre (approximately 181,500 square-foot) Vernon Jubilee Hospital (VJH) patient care tower will be situated next to the existing hospital to the east of the current emergency entrance. It will consolidate and modernize a series of programs and services to improve health service delivery, including new operating rooms and shelled-in floors for future patient beds.

The VJH expansion is being built under a single project management structure in conjunction with a parallel expansion to facilities at Kelowna General Hospital.

Highlights of the Vernon expansion include:

· New expanded and modernized emergency department with high visibility ground level access;

· Consolidated and centralized new operating rooms;

· New maternity/paediatrics ward with direct link to operating rooms;

· Building capacity with two shelled-in floors for future patient beds;

· Separate outpatient (day procedure) entrance from upper parking lot and new expanded outpatient program;

· Expanded and modernized facilities to provide a better patient experience and improved patient flows;

· Full integration with the existing hospital;

· New and more efficient central sterilization services;

· New ambulance garage;

· Vacated space in current hospital will leave space for other programs and services; and

· An increase in size from the original estimated 12,542 square metres (135,000 square feet) to 16,862 square metres (181,500 square feet) in the VJH patient care tower (a 34 per cent increase), making the new patient care tower more than twice the size of the Wesbild Centre, home of the BCHL Vernon Vipers.

Construction schedule:

Construction of the new facilities will take place concurrently with normal day-to-day hospital operations and will be integrated with existing infrastructure. The project will be constructed in phases to ensure construction impacts to patient care services are minimized. The patient care tower will be completed by May 30, 2011.

The magnitude of the project has grown since the original announcement with the addition of two shelled-in floors for future patient care beds, and the overall size of the patient care tower has increased from the original estimate of 135,000-square-feet to 181,500-square-feet.

Benefits of Infusion Health full-site facilities management agreement:

In addition to constructing the new facilities, Infusion Health will be responsible for preserving the integrity of the structures over the next 30 years. Infusion Health will manage plant maintenance across both sites, which will provide a seamless integration of the systems at both old and new facilities.

The benefits of a whole site solution for the new expanded and existing facilities are:

· An integrated single plant maintenance service on each site;

· Consistent standards and services across the whole sites and between sites;

· A single help desk service for plant maintenance services;

· A single set of operational polices and processes across the sites; and

· Clarity of accountability for systems and services which are present throughout all buildings

(e.g. fire alarm system, nurse call system, pipe work).

Plant maintenance is a critical component the public private partnership because it makes certain the private partner is accountable for ensuring the facilities are built to the highest quality standards and their mechanical systems function to the highest standards for the life of the buildings.

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Media

contact:

Bridgitte Anderson

Press Secretary

Office of the Premier

604 307-7177

Bernadette Murphy

Media Relations Manager

Ministry of Health Services

250 952-1887

250 213-9590 cell

Cam McAlpine

Communications Officer

Interior Health

250 862-8209

250 801-1741 cell

Tamara Little

Communications Director

Partnerships BC

604 660-0946

778 991-8326 cell

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