Facilities

BC set to build $500 million children’s hospital

VANCOUVER – BC Premier Gordon Campbell joined mining executive Don Lindsay to announce plans to rebuild BC Children’s Hospital – a project that’s expected to cost in excess of $500 million.

Lindsay, who is President and CEO of BC-based Teck Cominco Ltd., participated in the announcement as Chair of the Campaign for BC Children, a $200-million fund-raising initiative launched by BC Children’s Hospital Foundation.

Of the $200 million to be raised, about $150 million is earmarked for the new hospital construction, scheduled for 2009-2014. The other $50 million will support Child Health BC, an initiative aimed at ensuring all B.C. children have access to a consistent standard of care, no matter where they live. The new hospital will include an emergency department, pediatric intensive care unit, advanced diagnostic and imaging areas and a cancer ward.

“The health of BC’s children and future generations is a high priority for this government,” said Campbell at an event attended by about 200 people at Children’s Hospital. “In the 2008 speech from the throne, our government committed to upgrading and expanding Children’s Hospital.

“In BC’s 150th anniversary year, it seems fitting to announce this legacy for our children. What’s good for our kids is good for our province. We are ensuring our kids have healthy futures and this means having a world-class facility that will continue to attract top medical professionals and researchers from around the world.”

“The Foundation, in turn, pledged to engage communities across the province in support of this initiative, the largest hospital-related fundraising campaign ever in Western Canada,” said Campbell. “It is also the largest single fundraising initiative ever undertaken in support of children in this province.”

Priorities of the Campaign for BC Children include the new Acute Care Centre, the relocation of childhood development and rehabilitation services from Sunny Hill Health Centre in East Vancouver to the Oak Street home of BC Children’s, and Child Health BC, a BC Children’s Hospital initiative that is building pediatric care capacity throughout the province. The Overwaitea Food Group, which pledged $20 million to Child Health BC, is the campaign’s lead donor.

“We are pleased to support BC Children’s Hospital Foundation with their tremendous commitment to our youngest citizens,” said Health Minister George Abbott. “A new BC Children’s Hospital builds upon many investments we’ve made in children’s health care since 2001, including new and upgraded neonatal intensive care beds in hospitals through British Columbia, province-wide early childhood screening programs and a new mental health facility for BC children.”

Construction of the new Children’s Hospital will provide urgently needed space for critical care. For example, the current operating rooms are antiquated and do not have adequate space to accommodate the high-tech equipment required for complex surgical procedures. And, patient rooms in the existing hospital were not built to accommodate family members or provide the healing environment children need for quicker recovery.

BC Children’s Hospital is the province’s only full-service acute care hospital and serves the one million children living in BC and the Yukon. All children who are seriously ill or injured are referred to Children’s Hospital and are either treated at the hospital facility in Vancouver or, with consultation from Children’s specialists, in their home community.

Last year, more than 72,000 children were treated at Children’s Hospital. BC Children’s Hospital Foundation received donations from more than 82,000 people last year and had revenues of over $54.4 million. Funds raised by the foundation are used to support BC Children’s Hospital, Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children and the Child & Family Research Institute.