KELOWNA – The new Interior Heart and Surgical Centre at Kelowna General Hospital is on track to open later this month. The Province provided $296 million to the overall project and $85 million was contributed by the Central Okanagan Regional Hospital District for a total of $381 million.

In addition to cardiac surgery – the first such program outside of Victoria and the Lower Mainland – the centre will include new pre-operative, day surgery and post-anaesthetic recovery bays and a cardiac surgery intensive care unit.

The facility has capacity for 15 operating rooms, including two dedicated for cardiac surgery where patient-centred care will be delivered closer to home.

Having these resources means many patients will not have to transfer to other hospitals, because now Kelowna has the best technology, said Dr. Guy Fradet (pictured), cardiac surgeon at KGH.

“Our old ORs are good. They’ve been good since the 1970s, but surgery moves along so quickly, the technology moves along,” said Fradet. “We want to stay up-to-date always.”

The new surgical centre was designed and constructed to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification. “Interior Health is committed to environmental sustainability and green buildings,” said Interior Health board chair Erwin Malzer.