Premier Christy Clark today officially opened the Fort St. John Hospital and Peace Villa, which will provide families and seniors expanded hospital and residential-care services inside a new $301.8-million facility.

"This new and modern state-of-the-art facility shows our commitment to making smart investments in patient care for the growing number of families and seniors in the North," said Premier Clark. "With its new birthing centre, the hospital will give new moms and babies the best start. Peace Villa will provide seniors with the care and supports they need to age with dignity and respect. "

At 23,000 square metres, the new hospital is double the size of the original facility built in the 1960s. It includes an expanded emergency room and ambulatory care department, an intensive care unit, larger operating rooms, endoscopy suite and a birthing centre, which is the first of its kind in the North. There is also academic space for the Northern Medical Program.

More than 1,900 jobs were created throughout the life of the project, and approximately 20 local construction companies helped build the new facilities.

"This is the first full hospital replacement of this size in the North," said Pat Pimm, MLA for Peace River North. "The new hospital and Peace Villa will provide Fort St. John and the surrounding communities with quality health-care services for years to come."

"The new hospital and residential-care facility will provide new and expanded patient-care services for Peace River North, and help meet increased demand in the future for health services," said Peace River South MLA Blair Lekstrom. "This project is an important part of the broader regional network of facilities, which includes Dawson Creek and District Hospital, aimed towards improving health-care delivery in the Peace River region."

"The Fort St. John clinical design team, in collaboration with ISL Health, created a facility which incorporates the best practices for delivering quality health care services", said Cathy Ulrich, CEO and president of Northern Health. "We are all proud of this facility and it's capability to serve the community, and we thank our partners for helping us achieve this incredible goal."

"It is exciting to see a project of this magnitude come to fruition," said Peace River Regional Hospital District chair Karen Goodings. "The new Fort St. John Hospital and Peace Villa is the result of years of hard work by everyone involved."

The project is a public-private partnership between Northern Health and ISL Health. ISL Health is responsible for the design, building, partially financing and maintaining the facilities. Northern Health retains ownership of the building and provides all health and medical services.

Media contacts:

Mike Morton
Press Secretary
Office of the Premier
250 588-8380

Ministry of Health
250 952-1887 (media line)
Northern Health
250 961-7724 (media line)

A backgrounder follows.

(flickr.com)

BACKGROUNDER

Fort St. John Hospital and Peace Villa residential care facility

Timeline:

• The original 44-bed Fort St. John Hospital was constructed in 1962.
• In years 1999 and 2000, minor renovations were undertaken to improve existing services and to add additional patient services.
• In 2005, Northern Health embarked on an extensive review of the Fort St. John Hospital.
• In April 2008, the B.C. government announced funding approval for the Fort St. John Hospital and Residential Care project.
• By October 2008, an RFP was issued to the market place to design, build, finance and maintain the new state-of-the-art hospital and residential care facilities
• ISL Health was selected as the preferred proponent in March 2009.
• Ground was officially broken at the Fort St. John Hospital and Residential Care project site on July 22, 2009.
• The hospital opened to patients on June 21, 2012 and Peace Villa opened to patients on June 24, 2012.

Project quick facts:

• The total project capital cost is $301.8 million, which includes $98 million from the Peace River Regional Hospital District.
• The new buildings have a majority of single-bed rooms to enhance privacy and comfort, as well as infection control. Energy-efficient and built to achieve LEED Gold certification, these buildings also have many large windows to increase natural light, views and easy access to the outdoors to promote a healing environment.
• Peace Villa is connected to the Fort St. John Hospital through an indoor passageway to allow residents, clinicians and visitors to flow seamlessly back and forth for health-care services. Made up of two facilities (the Meadows and the Gardens), the 7,500 square-metre Peace Villa provides palliative and special care units to support the health and well-being of Northern seniors. Every room in Peace Villa is single-patient with en-suite bathrooms, giving seniors and their visiting family enhanced privacy and comfort.

Media contacts:

Mike Morton
Press Secretary
Office of the Premier
250 588-8380

Ministry of Health
250 952-1887 (media line)
Northern Health
250 961-7724 (media line)