Update on VJH Patient Care Tower

Written by 107.5 Kiss FM Tuesday, 09 March 2010 13:42

Submitted by Cam McAlpine, Communications Officer, Kelowna and Vernon Hospital Project

Crews continue to work hard on the Vernon Jubilee Hospital Patient Care Tower.

Construction is proceeding floor by floor, with one trades group following along as the previous group finishes.

The bottom floor where the new emergency department will be located is being drywalled and painted. The drywallers have also started work on the second floor, where the new main entrance, ambulatory care department and cardio clinics will be. Wall studs and rough mechanical and electrical work is underway on the third, fourth and fifth floors.

If you've been paying attention to the news lately, you may have heard we'd be starting on some renovations to link the front of the old hospital to the new tower, and you may be wondering why the work hasn't started.

Because the work will have such big impacts to the main patient dropoff and ambulance entrance, we wanted to make absolutely sure the work was done in an organized, phased manner so that there would be no safety concerns. That means we needed to get detailed drawings of the planned work. We needed to make sure access roads were up to standard. And we needed to get the signage and flag people in place to make sure that when people arrive at the site, there is as little confusion as possible.

The work will now begin some time in the next couple of weeks. We will keep you posted.

And just to remind you what the work will involve, a new main entrance will be constructed on the southwest corner of the current building.  That will be followed by renovations inside the hospital. The volunteer information desk and security office will be relocated within the current lobby waiting area and a new waiting area will replace the current volunteer information desk.

A new ambulance entrance and access hallway to the emergency department will then be constructed, running from approximately the location of the current security office across the front of the building to the current ambulance entrance.

Upon completion of this work, the current ambulance entrance will be closed, and the new entrances will open.

We invite you to download a map of the site so you can see what it will look like.