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New Centre to Train More Health Professionals in B.C.

May 1, 2008

COQUITLAM – A $39.3-million, state-of-the-art Health Sciences Centre that creates spaces for 1,500 more students – primarily in health-care professions including nursing and seniors’ care – was officially opened today at Douglas College’s David Lam campus in Coquitlam by Premier Gordon Campbell.

“With this new facility at Douglas College, we’ll be able to educate more nurses and other highly trained health professionals here in British Columbia to help meet the growing need in our health-care system,” Premier Campbell said. “Thanks to the sophisticated technologies and excellent instruction, students can hone their clinical skills in the lab and be fully prepared to take their place on health-care teams around the province.”

The Province provided $35.2 million towards the 9,720-square-metre Health Sciences Centre, with Douglas College contributing another $4.1 million. The three-storey centre includes:

  • The latest in computerized patient simulation labs, with four humanoid “patients” that can talk, breathe, bleed, dilate their pupils and respond to drugs administered by students.
  • Four multi-bed labs that prepare nursing students to work on hospital wards.
  • Two fully furnished apartments for home-care instruction.
  • Large classrooms for roundtable student collaboration.


“Our focus for B.C. post-secondary education is on increasing the number of health-care professionals we educate, including doctors, nurses and other health professionals,” Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell said. “Douglas College’s Health Sciences Centre is a new jewel in the crown of education facilities that are being developed to help meet the pressing need for more health-care professionals.”

The Health Sciences Centre, which opened to students earlier this year, houses Douglas College’s programs for nurses, health information specialists and health-care support workers. The project also included renovations to the college’s cafeteria, library and bookstore. The construction and renovations have created enough space to add the equivalent of 1,500 full-time students to the campus. Most of those students are enrolled in the health sciences, although new high-tech classrooms are also available for students in other faculties.

“Our communities from the Tri-Cities through to Maple Ridge have been growing at an amazing rate,” said Susan Witter, president of Douglas College. “This expansion will ensure we can continue to provide first-quality education to students in the region and create more nurses and other highly trained professionals in health and other fields.”

The centre was built to minimize impact on the environment, including using locally manufactured building materials with high recycled content wherever possible. Landscaping includes bioswales to remove silt and pollutants from surface runoff water, and drought-tolerant native plants to eliminate the need for irrigation. Low-flow fixtures are used indoors, along with energy-efficient lighting, natural ventilation of the atrium, daylight wells and low-energy window glazing.

Since 2001, the Province has increased annual operating funding for Douglas College by $12.3 million – a close to 30 per cent increase. The Province also provided operating funding for 3,347 new education spaces in nursing programs across B.C. between 2001-02 and 2007-08, doubled the number of first-year seats for undergraduate medical students to 256, as well as adding 404 spaces in home support and resident care attendant programs, and 853 spaces for other health professionals, including medical laboratory technology, medical radiography (imaging) technology, and physiotherapy.

Since 2001, the Province has provided more than $1.4 billion in new funding for more than 650 capital projects on post-secondary campuses around B.C. This includes new training facilities for student doctors at universities in Vancouver, Victoria and Prince George; a health sciences building bringing together disciplines related to public health at Simon Fraser University’s Burnaby campus; a new home for the University of B.C.’s physiotherapy program in Vancouver; and a new health sciences centre at Vancouver Community College.

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