Even the chief of staff at Penticton Regional Hospital was caught off-guard by the July 30 announcement of a $325-million renovation of the facility that will include a new seven-storey tower.
“Actually, it’s more than we asked for,” said Dr. Brad Raison. “I think the government rightly saw that rather than building (just) an ambulatory care tower, we needed new beds and things as well.”
Premier Christy Clark received a standing ovation after making the announcement during a speech to the Penticton and Wine Country Chamber of Commerce.
She told reporters afterwards that although the project, which will create 26,700 square metres of new space, had been conceived as a $300-million build with a five-storey ambulatory care tower as the centrepiece, development of the business case helped planners see even bigger possibilities.
“There’s no point in building small when you can, with the same budget, build more,” Clark said, “because we know that this community’s going to grow, we know that health-care need is going to grow, and we want to think ahead, plan ahead to be able to meet that.”
Health Minister Terry Lake said construction will begin in 2016 and proceed in two phases with the tower going up first, followed by renovation of part of the existing hospital to quadruple the size of the emergency department and improve the pharmacy, laundry and stores areas.
“The tower should be finished early 2019. The renovations to the second part should be done late 2019 or early 2020,” he said.
The new tower will include a walk-in clinic, surgical services and space for a medical school, and increase the total number of in-patient beds at PRH from 140 to 155, while making four-person rooms a thing of the past.
“This will be a very modern facility with 80 per cent single-occupancy rooms, which is the standard for infection control,” Lake explained.
“The facilities will be state-of-the-art, and I think the (staff) there will be excited about this. They’ve worked in infrastructure that’s been below standard for awhile and done an amazing job.”
A short list of three consortiums interested in a public-private partnership to design, build, partially finance and maintain the new tower was announced by Interior Health on Dec. 22. The final request for proposals to which the trio will respond is expected to be issued in February.
The Okanagan-Similkameen Regional Hospital District will chip in $122 million for the build and the local hospital foundation will contribute $20 million for equipment, while the B.C. government will cover the balance, likely through a long-term financing arrangement with the successful P3 group.
Janice Perrino, the then-chairwoman of the hospital district, wiped tears of joy from her eyes as she spoke to reporters after the July announcement.
“We are absolutely thrilled,” she said. “It couldn’t be better.”
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Here are recaps of other stories Western News readers enjoyed through 2014:
Three Gables condemned
June 26 – Former residents of Three Gables said they were glad to see it go after the old motel was evacuated in June.
A spokesman for the owner of the Three Gables Motel says there’s a chance the building may reopen, despite its former occupants being evacuated by an order of the B.C. Fire Commissioner.
“It’s an old building and spending money on this building is not realistic, but now we might have to do it,” said Raj Singh.
“We’re just assessing how to clean it up right. If anything’s going to be done, it’s going to be done on a big scale.”
People living in 10 long-term rental units above the Three Gables liquor store were ordered out a week earlier as a result of an evacuation order that was issued due to concerns about fire safety, in particular a lack of fire-rated doors on all the rooms.
Singh said some of the doors had been kicked in by tenants, which is why some entries were boarded over with plywood when fire inspectors arrived.
“Everything was safe up there, except for however these people lived inside their rooms, which we have no right to enter,” he said.
The owner, he explained, was holding off on installing new doors while negotiating the sale of the Three Gables, but the deal fell through. Then, when an alarm was pulled June 13 and damage to the system discovered by the fire department, a decision was made to empty out the building.
Relocation of displaced residents was co-ordinated by the South Okanagan Similkameen Brain Injury Society, which runs a homeless outreach program.
Kilts trending at Scots Fest
July 5 - Kilts were trending as a fashion statement when an estimated 2,000 people had a wee bit of fun at the first annual Penticton Scottish Festival.
The one-day event, the first of its kind in the city since 2006, featured bagpipers, strongmen, sheep dog demonstrations, plus music and dancing, all set against a tartan backdrop.
Organizers didn’t know what to expect, but were pleased with the turnout by both participants and the public.
“We weren’t sure, because it had been on hiatus for a few years, but we had a lot of response from community groups that wanted to participate,” said co-ordinator Wayne McDougall.
Rock slide injuries two
July 7 – Two people suffered minor injuries after a rock slide onto Highway 97, just two kilometres north of Summerland, late Sunday morning.
Matt Strength was driving northbound near La Punta Norte Bed and Breakfast when he saw rocks and dirt plunge down the mountain and on to the busy highway, creating a fog of dust. As the dust started clearing he jumped out of his vehicle and ran to where one car appeared to be hit. He was followed by the driver of the vehicle in front of him Strength said the impact of the rocks pushed the vehicle three lanes over, moving a traffic barrier.
“There was this huge dust cloud from where the rocks came down and then we saw two vehicles that just managed to get out of the way of it. They came right out of this big dust cloud like something out of a movie,” he said.
Okanagan Confessions
July 16 – It wasn’t for the feint of heart, but thousands of people were regularly reading some of the deepest, darkest and depraved confessions that anonymous locals dared to share publicly.
After its creation in May, the Okanagan Confessions page on Facebook ballooned in popularity on the simple premise of people posting their secrets — most dirty, some not — for all the world to see.
The page’s creator, who spoke to the Western News in July on condition of anonymity to protect her safety and the spirit of the project, said it was built to be entertaining, but also to help people “get a load off.”
“I think it gives people an opportunity to say things they probably wouldn’t have, they wouldn’t admit to,” said the 27-year-old Penticton woman, who asked to be identified as Lilah.
Most of the confessions were sexually explicit, some too much so for publication on the Facebook page.
“There’s a lot that (does) get posted so you can imagine… what isn’t getting posted,” Lilah said, adding that, still, “about 60 per cent of what gets posted shocks me.”
Lilah said she came across the idea for the page while visiting family in an Alberta town where a similar group existed.
The page has since been taken down.
Premier’s joke falls flat
Aug. 1 – Teachers weren’t laughing when they heard the joke Premier Christy Clark made at their expense during a speech in Penticton on July 30.
The premier opened her talk at a Penticton and Wine Country Chamber of Commerce luncheon by thanking those who’d given her and cabinet members a warm welcome during their three-day retreat in the South Okanagan.
“I guess there’s a welcoming committee outside today as well,” she continued, acknowledging the group of teachers, who were still on strike at the time and demonstrating on the sidewalk in front of the resort.
“It took them awhile to find us. We were here for three days, so I hope none of them are teaching geography,” Clark said.
The joke drew a round of laughter and applause from those in the room, but the head of the Okanagan Skaha Teachers’ Union didn’t find the quip quite so funny.
“To make teachers a laughing stock when they’re the ones that are fighting for the kids’ future here in the province, that’s just disgusting,” said Leslea Woodward.
“You don’t win teachers’ respect by insulting them.”
Bummed over beach closure
Aug. 15 – Duelling petitions were underway in August as the fight continued over the fate of Penticton’s only nude beach.
Neighbours in the Three Mile Beach launched their campaign to try to get government and police to crack down on nudists using the public portion of the waterfront there.
“We’re close to 200 (names). These are real signatures, real people, real addresses, and, most importantly, a good portion of them are from that neighbourhood,” said Cary Pinkowski, who owns the private property next to Three Mile Beach that nudists for decades used to sunbathe in the buff away from prying eyes.
He tried for several years to sell the seven-hectare property — listed most recently at $3.5 million — but the nude beach was a problem for buyers, so in May he hired security guards to keep people out.
Nudists then moved down to the public portion of the beach, prompting Pinkowski and others to raise their complaints publicly.
Meanwhile, the nude sunbathers had already started a petition of their own calling for the preservation of a portion of the public beach as clothing optional.
“None of us really have any comment other than: Put a sign up,” said Dustin Wolchina, an unofficial spokesman for the group.
Police tried to find middle ground in the dispute.
“We’re mindful, we’re trying to work with both sides, and we’re caught in the middle of trying to deal with an issue that’s very much a community tolerance issue,” said Penticton RCMP spokesman Rick Dellebuur.
Pool’s out next summer
Aug. 19 – It’s going to be another year before the problem of slippery tiles in Penticton’s public pool will be fixed.
Though it will cost $16,000 more, council chose to delay replacing the tiles until July 2015 in order to not disrupt pool schedules and the KISU and Penticton Pikes Swim Clubs as little as possible.
Three years of testing various options to maintain consistent and long-term slip resistance on the tiles installed during the reconstruction of the community centre pool were not successful. Earlier this year, the city gave the go ahead to replace them at a cost of $150,000.
The city had hoped to do the tile replacement in stages, allowing partial access to the pools.
However, replacing the tiles requires a complete lack of humidity, meaning all the pools will have to be drained for the seven weeks it will take to replace all the tiles.
Leaman goes to jail
Sept. 12 – With his “fall from grace” complete, Gary Leaman left the Penticton courthouse in handcuffs in September to begin serving a 21-month jail sentence.
The 59-year-old former Penticton city councillor pleaded guilty in provincial court in January to two counts of sexual assault, but details of the offences are covered by a publication ban intended to shield the victims’ identities.
In his reasons for sentence, Judge Gale Sinclair described the offences as “morally reprehensible.”
But the judge also said he recognized Leaman’s age, past community involvement, lack of a criminal record and efforts to begin treatment on his own as mitigating factors.
“Nonetheless, the fall from grace involved a hard landing here, to say the least,” Sinclair said.
Leaman, who told the court he’d been living in seclusion and studying Buddhism while on bail, issued a wide-ranging apology as he read from a prepared statement before being sentenced.
“I want to share my heartfelt regret for the embarrassment and anger that I’ve caused my former friends, colleagues and the greater community,” he said.
Leaman’s name was originally protected by a publication ban that was overturned following a court application by the Western News.
He served one term as a Penticton city councillor from 2002 to 2005, but was not re-elected, and failed in two subsequent runs at municipal office.
Leaman retired in October 2013 from his long-time job as manager of Cherry Lane Shopping Centre, and the charges were sworn a month later. July 11 Beach party marks official opening of Okanagan Lake walkway
Better late than never
Sept. 22 – Summer vacation began two weeks early and finished three weeks late for public school students, as the B.C. government and teachers sparred over a new contract.
Classes finally got underway on Sept. 22, a few days after the two sides came to terms on a six-year pact.
The delay was a source of worry for some Grade 12 students.
“Going into scholarship preparation, it kind of puts you in a setback, because now you have to struggle to get your classes,” 17-year-old Candace Hamilton told the Western News on her first day back at Princess Margaret Secondary School.
“I feel like the whole year’s been kind of shuffled back for me and it’s a lot more stressful than it should be.”
Even after students were back in class, the Okanagan Skaha School District and its teachers continued to argue over wages, as educators insisted they’d been shorted a day’s pay in September.
While the district balked initially and claimed it was merely following the local collective agreement, administrators later relented and provided partial payment according to a different interpretation of the deal.
“It was hard for our members to see teachers in other locals being paid for that day and not be,” Leslea Woodward, president of the Okanagan Skaha Teachers’ Union, said at the time.
Customer service records
Oct. 3 – In his Digging Deeper column, Western News reporter Joe Fries used the response to a personal access to information request he filed with Shaw to show readers what sort of information telecommunications companies keep on customers like him.
As the agent he dealt with on Sept. 1, 2010, noted, he called in that day to inquire about Shaw matching an offer from Telus for $15-a-month home phone and Internet service.
“When we tried to get some details about this promo that he saw,” the agent wrote, Fries started “throwing a fit and getting frustrated.”
“He basically just wanted a yes/no answer if we will match the rate or not, kept cutting me off. We tried to be patient and nice to (Fries) but it didn’t help, he hung up while on hold.”
Fries wrote that he no doubt became frustrated, but denied throwing a fit, and therein lies the problem, according to one expert.
“They’re taking notes that reflect their take on the situation, but probably wouldn’t be very objective, and they’re storing those notes and they could potentially be handed over to law enforcement without a warrant,” said David Christopher, spokesman for Open Media.
“If someone takes the wrong view and draws the wrong conclusion that you’re a raving lunatic or an angry person, you could lose out,” he said.
Doctor attacked at PRH
Dec. 5 – A local doctor was “lucky to be alive” after he was allegedly attacked Dec. 5 while interviewing a patient in the psychiatric ward at Penticton Regional Hospital.
Summerland man Gregory Stanley Nield, 30, was later charged with assault causing bodily harm and aggravated assault and ordered by a judge to undergo a 30-day psychiatric assessment to be completed at the Forensic Psychiatric Institute in Port Coquitlam.
Interior Health hasn’t publicly identified Dr. Rajeev Sheoran, but the psychiatrist was named in court documents as the alleged victim of the attack.
A person at the doctor’s office told the Western News on Dec. 18 that Sheoran still hadn’t returned to work and it was unknown when he’d be back.
B.C. Nurses’ Union president Gayle Duteil said Sheoran was “lucky to be alive” following the attack that left him with a broken jaw and facial injuries.
“Nurses on the scene said the patient calmly walked out of a closed-door session and announced the doctor might be dead,” she told reporters
Duteil said the incident “highlights the dangerous lack of security in B.C.’s psychiatric and forensic facilities.”
What led up to the assault, and how to prevent a similar incident in the future, is still under review by WorkSafeBC, RCMP and Interior Health.
Nield had previously been featured several times in the sports pages of the Western News for his achievements in the world of Brazilian jiu-jitsu.