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New B.C. acute care centre opens for young patients, expectant mothers

Facility aims to make B.C. Children’s Hospital visits more comfortable
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Exterior of Teck Acute Care Centre (PHSA/Contributed)

Hospitals can sometimes seem like a scary place for those needing treatment.

The new Teck Acute Care Centre at BC Children’s Hospital is aiming to make hospital visits for young patients and expectant mothers more comfortable.

“Parents who are leaving their homes and leaving everything behind are finding a place they can call home,” Premier John Horgan said during the unveiling of the new centre Friday.

Officially opening to patients on Oct. 29, each area of the building is modelled after a different part of B.C. with the hope that children, women and their families can feel at home while receiving care.

The eight-floor, 640,000 square-foot centre has 231 private patient rooms, medical and surgical in-patient units and procedural suites, as well as a transplant department, pediatric intensive care unit and a high-risk labour and delivery suite.

While receiving long-term treatment, patients and families will have access to basic resources like laundry facilities, family lounges and dining rooms as well as play areas, resource rooms and storage spaces.

The new building also features a larger children’s emergency department, additional patient beds and an expanded neonatal intensive care unit ― all equipped with single-patient rooms.

Rooms where intensive medical procedures occur have also been designed to be more comfortable for young patients. In the operating room where bone marrow extractions occur, the ceiling is lit with hundreds of LED lights placed to show major constellations as a way to recreate the night sky over Vancouver.

Women’s urgent care centre also opens

This month’s opening of the new acute care centre marks the completion of the second phase of three in the BC Children’s and BC Women’s Redevelopment Project.

The phase also includes the opening of the BC Women’s Urgent Care Centre, aiming at bridging the gap between mothers and their newborns post-birth.

In the new state-of-the-art neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), parents with a baby in intensive care will be able to sleep next to their baby’s incubator as early as 22 weeks into the usual 40-week pregnancy.

The new centre is expected to see about 13,000 patients a year, and includes 10 larger, single-patient rooms that will provide a quieter space with increased privacy.


@ashwadhwani
ashley.wadhwani@bpdigital.ca

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Julie de Salaberry, director maternal newborn programs, in one of the new MomBaby rooms in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, where mothers and newborns requiring intensive care both receive care in the same room. (PHSA/Submitted)
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Sixth floor patient and staff patio space outside the medical surgical unit. (PHSA/Submitted)
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An example of the colourful critters used for wayfinding in the Teck Acute Care Centre. (PHSA/Contributed)
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Pediatric Intensive Care Unit room. Each room has a pullout bed for a family member or support person to stay the night. (PHSA/Contributed)
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The fasting playroom is a space for children who can’t eat before a procedure. It is strategically placed far from any food preparation areas. (PHSA/Contributed)
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An interactive hockey-themed play space designed by the Vancouver Canucks. The space mimics the experience of being in the arena with a simulated jumbotron with TVs to watch the games and a ticker tape above. (PHSA/Contributed)


About the Author: Ashley Wadhwani-Smith

I began my journalistic journey at Black Press Media as a community reporter in my hometown of Maple Ridge, B.C.
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