Mental health and addictions services on the North Shore are getting a major facelift with a new $62.2-million acute mental health facility at Lions Gate Hospital, which will include space for the University of British Columbia faculty of medicine and a new ambulance station for BC Ambulance Service.

The new four-storey, 26-bed facility will replace the current Activation building, which was built in 1929 and no longer meets the needs of an acute care psychiatric facility. The new building will provide state-of-the-art mental health and addictions services in a beautiful, purpose-built facility, designed with psychiatric patients in mind.

The current multi-bed rooms will be replaced by single bedrooms and washrooms, to provide increased patient privacy, allow for greater infection control, reduce patient transfers and allow for appropriate patient management.

Also included in the project is dedicated teaching space for the UBC faculty of medicine affiliated regional centre, to increase educational opportunities for medical school students and residents; and a dedicated, permanent home for BC Ambulance Service in North Vancouver. It will also include parking, and additional shelled-in space for future expansion.

The $38.2 million in capital funding is being provided by the Province, through Vancouver Coastal Health. The Lions Gate Hospital Foundation is also a project partner, and has committed to raise the balance - $24 million - to complete this mental health treatment facility.

This new building will also provide space for various community mental health and substance use services, currently dispersed in locations around the community, providing one central, convenient and efficient hub for mental health services on the North Shore.

Construction is expected to get underway in summer 2012, with completion targeted for the end of 2013.

Lions Gate Hospital opened their new $24-million Jim Pattison Emergency Department in May 2009, which doubled the size of the previous department. That project was funded by the Lions Gate Hospital Foundation, which raised $15 million toward the project, and the Province and Vancouver Coastal Health.

Quick Facts:

• The new building will be located on the southeast corner of the current Lions Gate Hospital campus.
• Features of the project include:
• 26 single bed inpatient rooms, to replace the current inpatient psychiatric services housed within the Activation building.
• Consolidation of multiple community-based mental health outpatient services.
• Dedicated teaching space for the UBC faculty of medicine.
• A nine-bay BCAS service station, to accommodation for BC Ambulance Services currently located one block away from LGH.
• One floor of shelled-in space for future expansion.
• Underground parking.
• The new building will incorporate wood as much as possible, following the province's "wood first" policy.
• It will be built to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold standards.
• The new facility will provide improved safety and security for staff and patients alike.

Learn More:

Lions Gate Hospital Foundation website: www.lghfoundation.com/

Contact:

Ryan Jabs
Media Relations Manager
Ministry of Health
250 952-1887

Trudi Beutel
Public Affairs Officer
Lower Mainland Communications & Public Affairs
604 708-5282