The nurse-call system at East Kootenay Regional Hospital is being upgraded, improving patient safety.

A hands-free, voice-driven system will be installed ensuring patients are attended to as quickly as possible. The new wireless system works by having health professionals simply say a colleague's name, and an instant connection is made, providing faster response times and enhancing team communication. At the same time, the facility's emergency communications and security system will be upgraded to enhance security at the hospital.

"Communication is critical in hospitals and an enhanced wireless voice system at East Kootenay Regional Hospital will improve patient safety through instant communication between health professionals. This investment further demonstrates our government's commitment to the residents of the Easy Kootenay who are so well served by the hospital nursing staff," said Kootenay East MLA Bill Bennett, on behalf of Minister of Health Margaret MacDiarmid.

The project is a routine capital investment, and the total project cost of $500,000 is being cost-shared 60/40 by the government of British Columbia and the Kootenay East Regional Hospital District. The upgrades are expected to be complete by December 2013.

"The Kootenay East Regional Hospital District Board recognizes that the wireless nurse call system will help both patients and staff at EKRH. The board approved contributing $200,000 to the project, which demonstrates our willingness to continue to work with Interior Health and shows the Ministry of Health that this Hospital District is committed to getting our regional hospital to a standard of excellence our taxpayers deserve," said Kootenay East Regional Hospital District chair John Kettle.

This project is part of over $200 million in new capital investment announced by Premier Christy Clark at the Union of BC Municipalities convention in September. While these are new projects, this capital investment is not new money. It is money the government saved from the capital plan, through fiscal prudence.

Since 2001, more than $7 billion has been spent on health-capital projects in British Columbia.

Media Contact:

Ministry of Health
250 952-1887 (media line)
Interior Health
Communications
250 364-3468