Jessica Samuels and Starlee Speers, Astral Media Radio
Details of the Kelowna General and Vernon Jubilee hospital expansions have been revealed. A press released issued by the Ministry of Health names Infusion Health as the company that has been awarded the 432.5 million dollar contract for both hospitals. Chief Operation officer for Interior Health Joanne Konnert says both hospitals will have expanded emergency rooms and two shelled in floors...but no extra beds. "At this point in time they're just shelled in. As we get closer to the date we need to think about are we going to finish them off and we need to do the operating dollars and those types of things." Konnert says building and maintenance and repair will be contracted out to Infusion Health while Interior Health will retain the housekeeping and food services.-------------------
Astral Media Radio News (Kelowna)
Details of the Kelowna General and Vernon Jubilee hospital expansions have been revealed. A press released issued by the Ministry of Health names Infusion Health as the company that has been awarded the 432.5 million dollar contract for both hospitals. Interior Health Chief Operating Officer Joanne Konnert says while both hospitals feature expanded emergency rooms and two shelled in floors to accommodate future patient levels, there is still no mention of more beds being allocated. Konnert also says building and maintenace and repair will be contracted out to Infusion Health while Interior Health will retain the housekeeping and food services. Konnert says "its much more efficient to have just one maintenance staff - so the decision was made that we would have the proponent maintain both the new building and the existing building, for those reasons." Meantime, the Hospital Employees' Union isn't happy about the 53 lay-offs planned for trades and maintenance staff, as a result of the expansions. Local Services Rep for Kelowna, Tracy Mundy says the decision isn't sitting well with the membership, and its not all about money. "A lot of these guys have been there for 30 years. They've invested a lot in this facility and they're part of a whole team in this facility that is going to be hard to leave after spending so many years being in a place." Workers impacted by privatization at KGH and VJH include electricians, plumbers, power engineers, and other maintenace workers.
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