Construction of delayed ICU for critically ill patients at NRGH expected in new year

Dr. Dave Coupland, president of the NRGH medical staff association, was relieved to hear a firm construction timeline had been established.

“These things take time, we’d love them to move faster but we’re getting there. The promise of that makes everybody actually know that they’re will be a better day ahead.”

The vastly expanded new 12-bed ICU will be outfitted with modern equipment, private rooms and areas for family members to gather.

It will be more conveniently located south of the emergency room.

Dr. Coupland said a new ICU is “critically important” to meet a growing and aging population north of the Malahat.

“It’s the first tangible, physical acknowledgement of the needs for a higher level of care in central and north Island and new programs including a tertiary services hospital at NRGH.”

Dr. Coupland said NRGH is also approved for 12 new high acuity beds for illnesses a level below what the ICU handles.

The province confirmed a shell will be built for the high acuity beds, to be funded in the future.

“It’s fundamental, really symbolic and important. Critical care is the first building block, you have to be able to look after your really sick people to do that,” Dr. Coupland said, who noted assurances the ICU project is advancing has “really turned the morale around in the hospital.”

Nanaimo’s ICU was called one of the worst facilities in Canada and a risk to patients in a 2013 external review.

The unit was built in 1970.

Redeveloping the ICU was originally projected to cost $34 million.

Approving the revised cost of the project is underway, according to the government, confirmed the size and scope of Nanaimo Hospital’s new ICU did not change despite escalating costs.

The BC Government and Nanaimo Regional Hospital District will cover most of the costs.

The Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation is raising money to pay for all of the required medical equipment for the new ICU.

CEO Janice Perrino said $4 of the $5 million required has been collected since the spring from a range of private and corporate donors.

“The incredible staff we have here at this hospital just need the physical spaces to be able to work the way they’ve always worked, which is the highest level of care possible.”

Perrino said the community is clearly rallying around raising funds for the new ICU, with donations consistently being made.

“It doesn’t matter what age you are, if you need an ICU you need it right away. Whether it’s COVID or a heart attack, a car accident, it doesn’t matter, we have to have the ICU our region deserves. We’re serving everybody north of the Malahat,” Perrino said.

Donations to the Nanaimo Hospital Foundation’s ICU project can be made here.

The new ICU was first announced by health minister Adrian Dix in November, 2018 when NDP candidate Sheila Malcolmson was running to be Nanaimo’s MLA in a critical pending byelection.

News of the project was scarce after Malcolmson’s win and wasn’t emphasized in the recent 2020 provincial election.

Construction of the new ICU was originally expected to begin in the summer of 2020 and open in 2021.

The Ministry of Health attributed the delay to “unanticipated construction industry cost increases due to an overheated construction market affected the timing and procurement and the project budget.”

ian@nanaimonewsnow.com
On Twitter: @reporterholmes

by Ian Holmes

Construction of delayed ICU for critically ill patients at NRGH expected in new year

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