Emergency Department Renovations at Sechelt Hospital
Transforming Health Spaces, Improving Privacy and Safety The Emergency Department at Sechelt Hospital plays a vital role in the health care of our community. It is the only emergency healthcare site on the lower Sunshine Coast, and for thousands of patients, it is their primary source of care. In the summer of 2023, Sechelt Hospital and Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) identified the opportunity improve the overall function of the Emergency Department within the existing floor space and enhance the safety and privacy of both patients and staff. This means significantly renovating the existing department space to improve patient care. Once completed, these renovations will add:
- A dedicated mental health assessment room
- A dedicated triage space for increased privacy
- A dedicated family room
- Additional bathrooms for patients and staff
- A waiting area within the emergency department
- Improved sight lines for staff, increasing safety
- 3 new treatment spaces
- A new security office space
Ambulatory Care Unit
The Foundation works on an ongoing basis with Vancouver Coastal Health and Sechelt Hospital medical staff and administrators to identify equipment and special project needs not covered by the annual provincial or regional health budgets.
The most recent priority was to assist with the complete overhaul of the South wing of the original hospital to create a beautiful, modern and well equipped Ambulatory Care Unit.
The Foundation invested $1,115,000 in the equipment and furnishings required for the Ambulatory Care Unit and future 13-room patient care unit. The ACU opened at the end of January and has met with extremely positive reviews from patients and staff. It is a best in class facility which will vastly improve the experience of chemotherapy patients, haemodialysis patients, those seeking medical daycare and visiting specialists’ clinics. Expanded services also mean Sunshine Coast residents will not have to travel to the city for medical care as frequently. The new ACU also allows staff to better service visitors through a unique design which includes glass walls, private medical procedure rooms and shared nurses’ stations.
Babies Get New Warm Welcome at Sechelt Hospital
Donations bring new incubators and life-saving gear to Sechelt Hospital maternity ward
Sechelt, B.C.—As Vancouver Coastal Health’s Sechelt Hospital prepares to deliver the last baby of 2023, (151 and counting!), the wrappers have just come off five new “Panda” warmers, a “Giraffe” incubator and six neonatal heart monitors for each room in the maternity department—just in time to welcome the last tykes of 2023 to the Coast.
This life-saving equipment allows nurses and doctors to better receive neonatal infants, assess and monitor key health markers after arrival, and better support infants (and their families) that may need immediate transportation to the next level of care off-coast.
The new equipment replaces older models and adds additional units to increase the hospital’s capacity to serve a growing population of young families. Donors contributed more than $350,000 to purchase this best-in-class new equipment.
As Kaylee Kuhn, a maternity nurse at Vancouver Coastal Health’s Sechelt Hospital explained, “This is definitely top-of-the-line equipment we have in Sechelt and it’s already helped saved lives and help us in our daily work.”
As a fundraiser for the maternity department, Chad Joe, President of Westcoast Mining, has hosted nine Comedy on the Coast shows, an annual event that brings some of the best stand-up comedians to Sechelt.
“Ever since my son was born at Sechelt Hospital,” said Joe, “I recognized the need to support pediatric care and help contribute to new equipment here. Through Comedy on the Coast and other supporters in our community, we have all been able to make our maternity department a state-of-the-art facility and should be extremely proud of what we have accomplished. I am grateful that I can do this work and look forward to hosting everyone in September 2024.”
For another anonymous local donor, all three generations of their family have been born at Sechelt Hospital, so a major gift was recently given to the maternity ward to provide a lasting legacy for future generations.
“Having both our daughter and now granddaughter born in Sechelt with terrific care from the nursing team, we felt inspired to assist both the team and future coasters with our donation to the maternity unit,” they said.
Mary Lou Owen donates $148,000 towards critical Operating Equipment at Sechelt Hospital
After hours in Sechelt Hospital’s Surgical Services department, Clinical Coordinator Brenda Rowe provided a tour of our local operating rooms for a very special donor and members of Sechelt Hospital Foundation. Demonstrating the recently purchased Anesthetic Machine, monitors and an Omnicell automated anesthesia cart, Brenda explained how this new equipment securely stores all medications and supplies for Sechelt Hospital’s Surgical Services team. This state-of-the-art upgrade was made possible through the generosity of Sechelt resident, Mary Lou Owen.
Mary Lou, a retired school teacher, has been a resident of Sechelt since 2002. As a former member of the Delta Hospital Auxiliary, she understands the importance of health care in her community. This remarkable $148,000 gift to Sechelt Hospital Foundation and the community demonstrates her commitment to making the best medicine local!
“This equipment purchase means Sechelt Hospital can optimize the use of two Operating Rooms,” said Marie Duperreault, Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) Director for the Sunshine Coast. “We are so grateful to Mary Lou Owen and the Sechelt Hospital Foundation for this generous donation.”
Michelle Stanton, Sechelt Hospital’s Manager of Acute Services, noted the new Anesthetic Machine and monitors will allow medical staff to serve more patients, closer to home.
“This new equipment will have a significant impact on the quality of care our patients receive at the hospital and allow us to treat patients with greater efficiency,” Michelle said.
Jane Macdonald, Sechelt Hospital Foundation Executive Director mentioned “When a donor, such as Mary Lou, can see her contributions making a difference, everyone wins. Supporting staff with equipment to serve patients enables more care, closer to home. Such philanthropy is the ultimate expression of grateful patients and community members whose gratitude goes full-circle.”
Pictured above left to right: Bill Climie, Brenda Rowe, Mary Lou Owen, Dr. Pierre du Plessis and Jane Macdonald. Photo by Emily Kammerle, SHF.
Cystoscopy tower, camera and monitor newly installed at Sechelt Hospital, thanks to donor contributions.
More Reasons to Stay on the Coast
$220,000 in donations committed to Operating Rooms Cystoscopy Equipment
On May 18th in 2022 Sechelt Hospital Foundation, Vancouver Coastal Health leadership and members of the Westland Insurance executive team gathered online for a virtual cheque presentation. On screen, Jason and Jeff presented two cheques: $100,000 from Jeff and Christina Wubs and $50,000 from Jason Wubs and the Westland Insurance team. Jane Macdonald, E.D. at the Hospital Foundation reported on the speed in which the Wubs’ Family and Westland Insurance gifts were complemented by an additional donor’s gift of $20,000 and the Hospital Foundation Board’s decision to commit $50,000 donor contributions. Marie Duperreault, VCH Director for the Sunshine Coast and Sechelt Hospital, expressed her “sincere thanks to the Foundation and donors for the generous gift to support our patients and surgical services team here at Sechelt Hospital.”
This new system provides the following benefits:
- Vastly improved optics for diagnosis and surveillance of bladder cancer & other bladder, urinary tract and or prostate issues
- Updated more reliable equipment less prone to breakdown/equipment failure
- Modernization of diagnostic urology
Dr. Chris Hoag, Urologist
Cystoscopy is a procedure that lets the healthcare provider view the urinary tract, particularly the bladder, urethra, and openings to the ureters. This may include early signs of cancer, infection, narrowing, blockage, or bleeding.
To do this procedure, a long, flexible, lighted tube, called a cystoscope, is put into the urethra and moved up into the bladder. During a cystoscopy, the healthcare provider may remove tissue for further exam (called a biopsy). Some problems can be treated during the procedure. Some medical problems of the urinary tract that may be found during cystoscopy include:
- Cancer or tumor of the bladder or prostate gland
- Polyps or overgrowths of normal tissue (or a mass that is not cancer)
- Bladder stones, which are calcium crystals that can lead to infection, inflammation, bleeding, and blockages in the urinary tract
- Scarring and damage caused by frequent urinary tract infections (UTIs)
- Abnormalities of the urinary tract that may be present at birth and may lead to a backflow of urine or kidney problems
- Injury of the urinary tract
The equipment was ordered, installed, and put to work right away as of May 11th. Dr. Chris Hoag, visiting Urologist, and Dr. Daren Spithoff, head of Anesthesia at Sechelt Hospital, shared a video message from Sechelt Hospital’s Operating Room underscoring the significance of the new Cystoscopy equipment.
Dr. Daren Spithoff, G.P. and Head of Anesthesia at Sechelt Hospital
“This equipment brings the capacity at Sechelt Hospital for diagnostics up to the same standard of care and level of services as the North Shore,” remarked Dr. Chris Hoag, a visiting urologist who has been seeing patients on the Sunshine Coast for several years. Dr. Spithoff added “for our bladder cancer patients and their follow-up requirements, we will be able to perform these procedures with state-of-art equipment closer to home. Thank you from all of us at Sechelt Hospital.”
Gibsons Public Health
Another Foundation investment in local health care was unveiled in January of 2018 with the opening of the new Gibsons Public Health facility on Gibsons Way. The centre includes a first for the Sunshine Coast – an audiology booth to test children’s hearing.
Funding for the audiology booth came from the Foundation and also with a dedicated donation from Comedy on the Coast’s sold-out stand up show in the fall.
Beyond audiology, you can now access a variety of public health services in the new space which is more conducive to patient care and public accessibility as it is on the main Gibsons artery with parking right in front.
Located across the street from Elphinstone High School, the centre offers Youth Clinics focussing on public health, dental health and sexual health.
The new facility also provides you access to home care nurses, community health workers, volunteer programs, case management, rehabilitation including occupational therapy and physical therapy, allied teams of dietitians and social workers, acquired brain injury programs, chronic disease management, home supports and community living, palliative care workers, public health nurses, sensory screening, immunization clinics, communicable disease workers, a needle exchange, speech language pathology and population health.
Hospital Auxiliary
Through the years, Sechelt Hospital Foundation and Sunshine Coast Health care Auxiliary have partnered on major fundraising projects, including the ‘Back the Cat’, and ‘Gettin’ Equipt’ campaigns. As separate organizations and together, we continue to support health care on the Sunshine Coast – the Foundation for Sechelt Hospital, and the Auxiliary for Sechelt Hospital as well as for Shorncliffe and Totem Lodge.
We work together, celebrate together, and look forward to the next project together!
