District of Sechelt council heard that construction plans for the new St. Mary's Hospital are behind schedule, but will happen.
Dave MacIntosh, from Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), said while the schedule is about seven months behind, the new design for the building will be one of a kind.
"Sechelt is getting a state of the art building that we haven't got anywhere else," he said in his briefing to council at the June 3 council meeting.
In the spring of this year, VCH announced it received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold approval for the building, which brought in another $2.4 million from the provincial government to be put toward design standards that will make the hospital one of the most energy efficient and green buildings possible.
"That's a pretty major coup for us," he added.
VCH also secured $325,000 for energy retrofitting projects and the St. Mary's Hospital Foundation and auxiliary are working to raise up to $2 million for modern equipment.
"We are extremely hopeful. They are very good partners to deal with," MacIntosh said. "We're trying to upgrade the equipment. Whatever they can raise is what we'll buy too."
MacIntosh was clear that the project is not dependent on the auxiliary raising the whole $2 million.
One of the biggest changes in design that led to the LEED gold standard is the move to single-occupancy rooms, which are now found in most of Europe and the United States, according to MacIntosh.
"We're pretty sure it's going to be mandated soon," he said citing several reasons for its importance.
Increased patient and staff safety and public satisfaction were high. Single-occupancy reduces the rate of health care acquired infections, medication errors and stress, he said.
"There are 20 deaths per day in Canada due to infections contracted in hospital, and it costs about $6,000 per infection for treatment," he said.
He said single-occupancy is expected to reduce that factor by 25 to 50 per cent.
MacIntosh said it was important to reach the community and let them know the project will happen. To encourage enthusiasm, they plan to better communicate their progress.
"People are going, 'Are we ever going to build the friggin' thing?'" MacIntosh joked with council.
MacIntosh said VCH has set up a mock hospital floor design in an airplane hangar on the Coast and are using it to work out bugs in the system so they can create the most efficient process for patients as they enter for care.
"We did real-life dramatization," he said. "I've never done a whole department before. It's proved very valuable," he said.
MacIntosh said the public will eventually be able to walk through the mock setting and see it for themselves. As well, VCH plans to hold an open house and work with Coast Cable 11 to communicate with the Sunshine Coast community.
MacIntosh said there is a buzz around the project and he thinks the tenders will be quite competitive. If he has to, he'll fast track things to catch the market "on the down, not on the up."
"I'm getting phone calls I've never had for the last three years. I think we're going to get some really good bids," he said.
Though the hospital staffing numbers will not change greatly after the building's completion, during the construction phase of 18 to 24 months, MacIntosh predicted the Coast could see around 300 to 400 jobs created.
The $44.4 million building is scheduled to be operational by October 2011 followed by upgrades to the ambulatory care facility.
