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Funding Approved for Interior Heart & Surgical Centre

January 25, 2010
 
Kelowna – The Province has approved funding for the Interior Heart and Surgical Centre (IHSC) project, which will build on the cardiac transition plan currently underway at Kelowna General Hospital (KGH) and provide cardiac care closer to home for patients throughout the Interior, Premier Gordon Campbell announced today.
 
“This new Interior Heart and Surgical Centre builds on the record health care expansion already underway in the Interior, including the expanded Kelowna General Hospital, Vernon Jubilee Hospital, and the Southern Medical Program,” said Premier Campbell. “This expansion project will make Kelowna the fifth area of the province to provide a complete cardiac program. Once fully operational, the program will mean about 1,600 cardiac patients each year will be able to get cardiac care closer to home.”
 
The Interior’s cardiac transition plan was initially announced in March 2009, following through on the Province’s commitment to bring cardiac services to KGH by 2012. In November 2009, KGH performed its first percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI – also known as angioplasty), and renovations are currently underway to allow for heart surgeries to be done at the current site by 2012. Once fully operational, the program will see 600 cardiac surgeries performed along with almost 1,000 PCI procedures a year.
 
“The new Heart and Surgical Centre will be a great addition to the comprehensive health services for the Southern Interior, and clearly shows that health care is a top priority for our government,” said Westside-Kelowna MLA Ben Stewart.
 
“We have an aging population here in the Okanagan, and it is often a challenge for our elderly to travel to Vancouver or elsewhere for the care they need while ill, and this centre will relieve that stress,” said Kelowna-Mission MLA Steve Thomson.
 
“This centre will provide jobs for doctors and researchers who will be graduating from our university, and will help to meet the increasing demand for these services in our communities,” said Kelowna-Lake Country MLA Norm Letnick.
 
The IHSC project will also include a brand new, state-of-the-art inpatient surgical unit to replace the aging unit currently in use at KGH, and space for seven new operating rooms in the future. The surgical suite will be fully integrated with the cardiac revascularization program. Support services will also be enhanced, including a new and expanded central sterilization reprocessing department and expanded diagnostic imaging, pharmacy and materials management department. 
 
In addition, a new, modern adult psychiatry unit, updated inpatient units and ophthalmology department will be created in the new patient care tower, along with an expanded laboratory in the new clinical support building, as these departments will be moved from the existing Pandosy building, which will be demolished to make room for the IHSC.
 
“We are very excited that funding has been approved for the complete Interior Heart and Surgical Centre,” said Norman Embree, board chair at Interior Health. “Patients from the Interior will no longer have to travel for this specialty care and we will be able to attract and retain world-class health professionals.”
 
The cost of the project is estimated at $448.2 million, and will include a new 12,970 square-metre (139,590 square foot) building to house the Interior Heart and Surgical Centre, a new 7,850 square-metre (84,570 square foot) clinical support building, and renovations to the existing Royal and Strathcona buildings. The new building will be built on the site of the existing Pandosy building. The programs currently housed at Pandosy will be relocated to the new patient care tower and a new clinical support building. Over the life of the project, the Interior Heart and Surgical Centre is expected to create more than 2,800 construction-related jobs.
 
The Central Okanagan Regional Hospital District (CORHD) has committed funding to support the IHSC project, and will contribute about $91.3 million. The remaining funding is being provided by the Province.
 
“This project will be a tremendous addition to the health care services available to residents in the Central Okanagan,” said Robert Hobson, chair of the CORHD. “We are pleased to provide funding to support the project and enhance patient care in Kelowna.”
 
Kelowna is the fifth provincial cardiac revascularization program in B.C., and the first outside of the Lower Mainland or Vancouver Island. The cardiac program at KGH will operate in collaboration with the other cardiac centres in the province: at Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster, Vancouver General Hospital, Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria and St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver.
 
“In the past year, the cardiac program in Kelowna has moved forward by leaps and bounds,” said Dr. Richard Hooper, Interior Health Regional Cardiac Services program director. “We have already begun performing PCIs and we are on track to do heart surgeries in the next couple of years. With the addition of this complete cardiac centre, we will be able to offer the best possible cardiac care to our patients.”
 
Tertiary cardiac services are planned, co-ordinated, monitored, evaluated and funded by Cardiac Services BC, an agency of the Provincial Health Services Authority. It works with the regional health authorities, including Interior Health, to promote best practices and evidence-based cardiac care.
 
The new buildings will be designed to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold standards, and will maximize the interior and exterior wood construction, in keeping with the provincial Wood First Act announced in September 2009.
 
A portion of the new cardiac and surgical centre will be pursued as a new public-private partnership, while some aspects of the project will be procured through more traditional construction procurement process, and also through the current public-private partnership already in place at KGH for the Kelowna Vernon Hospitals Project.
 
All clinical health services will be provided by the Province, through Interior Health, in keeping with the Canada Health Act.
 
KGH and Vernon Jubilee Hospital are currently benefiting from a $432.9-million expansion. That expansion will feature a new, larger emergency department at KGH, a new medical school building to house the clinical academic campus for the Southern Medical Program, and new patient care towers at both KGH and VJH.
 
The Kelowna and Vernon Hospitals Project and the Interior Heart and Surgical Centre project are part of government’s $2.9-billion investment in health capital projects across the province.  
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Authorized By Jim Pipe, Financial Agent BC Liberal Party.
Tel: 604.606.6000, 1.800.567.2257