Hospital upgrade skyrockets

By Barb Brouwer OBSERVER STAFF Nov 15 2006 http://www.saobserver.net/
Soaring construction costs and changes to infrastructure requirements for Shuswap Lake General Hospital redevelopment have driven the price tag for phase-one from $12 million to $21.3 million. But the plan will go ahead as drawn, thanks to North Okanagan Columbia Shuswap Regional Hospital District directors, who voted to approve a provisional budget for the $21.3 million project.
Interior Health Authority's Chief Financial Officer Chris Mazurkewich handed the news of the $8 million cost increase to North Okanagan Columbia hospital district directors at a meeting in Salmon Arm last Thursday. "It was a general update on where projects are for Shuswap Lake Hospital, and the changes in the cost of the project for mechanical and other upgrades," says IHA's Shuswap-Revelstoke administrator Kirstine Hill, who attended the meeting. "The costing has moved from $13 million to more than $20 million and in order to keep it at the scope in this phase, that's what the cost has gone to," Thompson Cariboo Shuswap COO Andrew Neuner said once they began tearing apart walls, IHA officials discovered they would not be able to bring the plan in on the $12-million budget. "We discovered we weren't going to be able to provide the full scope of the plan," he said Monday. "That's why we went to our funding partners."
Neuner says there are limitations on the site because it is on a slope, is land-locked and there are the challenges of tying the new project into an old building, much of which was built to construction codes of the 1960s and will need to be brought up to the current code. Happy to hear hospital district directors had backed the $21.3-million plan, Neuner says phase one, as originally planned, will include redevelopment of the emergency room, diagnostic imaging, pharmacy, rehabilitation and hospital lab. As to whether construction would begin as originally slated for spring 2007, Neuner said that would depend on a number of factors. "Once the plans are done and the tenders are sent out, we'll have to see what comes back," he said, noting that in these pre-Olympic times, costs and availability of labour are significant issues. "And builders prefer brand new buildings to complicated projects that tie into existing buildings and require upgrading." Following the presentations, the board approved a 2007 provisional budget that includes the increased costs of the projects for both Vernon and Salmon Arm. In the case of Shuswap Lake General Hospital, the cost to the hospital board, and therefore to local taxpayers, will be 40 per cent, or $8 million. "The $1.3 million cost for phase-one planing will be paid out over three years, while the $8 million will be paid out over 30," says health board treasurer Ted Holmes, who pointed out the board also approved a provisional budget of $85.5 million for Vernon. "That's what's on my books and that's what the hospital board approved," he says. The hospital district's share of Vernon Jubilee's improvement costs will be $32.4 million. Columbia Shuswap Regional District Chair Rhona Martin says directors were unanimous in their support. "As politicians, we wanted to send out a clear message that we are serious about supporting the projects," Martin says. "We need improvements in infrastructure in our hospital district." Martin described the meeting as being "very good," with directors asking pertinent questions of IHA and the five Vernon doctors, who presented to the board. "It was good to have both sides, to get both perspectives," she says, noting that concerns about the population growth in the region were shared by everyone at the meeting. "They (doctors) are looking at us as politicians to lobby the provincial government to increase the bed allocation." Vernon Jubilee is a regional hospital that serves residents of Revelstoke, Salmon Arm, Sorrento, Lumby and Falkland, as well as Vernon, Martin points out. "It's a huge district. People from these communities use the facilities. If you want your eyes done, you go to Armstrong," she says, noting patients are referred throughout the region. "That's just the way it is and we have to provide the best care possible." Martin says hospital board members also heard about difficulties doctors experience in using Vernon Jubilee's small existing operating rooms. "Parts of Vernon Hospital were built in the late 1940s," she says. "It's going to be a challenge to get that up and running." Health Minister George Abbott added his praise for the hospital boards actions. "We are pleased by the regional hospital district's decision," he said yesterday. "They have been very supportive and we are pleased they will be partnering with us, today and in the future." Abbott said he is aware of ongoing challenges in the Interior and said Kelowna, Vernon and Salmon Arm top the province's priority list. With some humming and hawing, Abbott agreed that the government will be agreeable to funding their 60 per cent of the Salmon Arm project, but said there were still some discussions to be had about Vernon - something that "will come sometime in the future." "For larger projects there are government processes that precede any announcement about capital expenditures and we are in the latter stages of those processes for Kelowna and Vernon," adds Abbott.