s p e C I A l f e A T u r e
It's Our Time
Under the Lights
Traditionally B.C.'s unsung hero of healthcare,
Royal Columbian Hospital has begun an unprecedented
and transformational redevelopment
H
ospital upgrades are always an
important undertaking, as well
as being elaborate in terms of
logistics. But the impact of the
three-phase, $1.35-billion
improvement for New Westmin-
ster-based Royal Columbian Hospital is
such that it recently prompted Tom
Sparrow, the hospital's redevelopment
chief project officer, to remark, "What's
taking place is spectacular and of significant
benefit to New Westminster, Metro
Vancouver and all of B.C."
That's because the upgrades — which
comprise the largest government-funded
health care redevelopment project ever
approved in B.C. — are for the only hospital
in the province with Level 1 trauma, cardiac
care, neurosurgery, high-risk obstetrics,
neonatal intensive care, and acute mental-
health care services, all on one site. Royal
Columbian is B.C.'s busiest cardiac care
centre; it is the only hospital in B.C. that
cares for certain critically ill pregnant
women and their unborn children; and it is
one of the province's busiest emergency
departments and medical heliports.
There are many other distinctions to
Royal Columbian, which is also the
province's oldest hospital (established in
1862); but the bottom line is that with it
serving about one third of the total
population of B.C., the upgrades — Phase 1
of which is already underway — will take
these services to stratospheric new heights.
As far as Royal Columbian site medical
director and critical care physician Dr.
Steve Reynolds is concerned, the upgrades
are also drawing much-needed attention to
the hospital's achievements. "I came here
eight years ago and was struck by how such
a talented team of health care professionals
R O Y A L C O L U M B I A N H O S P I T A L F O U N D A T I O N
royal Columbian hospital
is one of b.C.'s top critical care
hospitals, serving a population of
more than 1.8 million people
— one in three british
Columbians.
Im
AGE
COUR
T
ESY
Of
ROYA
L
COLUmBIAN
HOSPITA
L
fOUNDATION
