Planning for Expansion at Vernon Jubilee Hospital Moves Ahead

August 21, 2006 interior health

VERNON - Interior Health today issued a Request for Proposals for consultants to do the schematic design work for a proposed major expansion of diagnostic and treatment services at Vernon Jubilee Hospital that will improve and modernize the emergency department, outpatient care centre, surgical services, intensive care unit and central sterilization services. “Our government places high priority on ensuring that patients in the Interior receive timely access to high-quality health care in this province,” said Health Minister George Abbott. “Planning for a new diagnostic and treatment building at Vernon Jubilee Hospital is designed to support the growing population throughout the North Okanagan and provide access to a new proposed state-of-the-art facility.” Interior Health has compiled its analysis of population and growth pressures on all health care in the North Okanagan area. That work, along with detailed health service delivery planning, permitted Interior Health to complete a functional program that identified the space requirements and adjacencies of departments in this new Diagnostic and Treatment facility. The schematic design phase is the next step in the planning process and will provide preliminary drawings of this new facility for detailed capital and operating cost estimation for provincial government approval. Once approval of the project business case has been obtained, Interior Health will proceed with detailed plans for procurement and construction of the new facility.
“There have been increasing demands on health services in Vernon as a result of a growing population,” said Okanagan Vernon MLA Tom Christensen. “This proposed expansion of inpatient and outpatient services is a step forward in the renewal of health facilities for people in the Vernon area.”“We are very excited to be proceeding to this next step in the planning for replacement of facilities at Vernon Jubilee,” said Joanne Konnert, Chief Operating Officer for the Okanagan Health Service Area. “This will serve the Vernon community well.” The proposed multi-storey structure will be situated adjacent to the existing building on the southeast corner of the VJH site. The new Diagnostic and Treatment building will include: the Emergency Department, Ambulatory Care Centre, Surgical Services, Intensive Care/Cardiac Care and Central Sterilization Services. The North Okanagan Columbia Shuswap Regional Hospital District (NOCSRHD) has agreed to contribute 40 per cent of the capital funding for this project with the Government of British Columbia, through Interior Health, funding the remaining 60 per cent.