Weary medical students visiting Penticton Regional Hospital won’t have far to go to find a nice place to rest their heads soon.
Construction is underway on the groundwork required for a new residence on hospital grounds that will be used as short-term accommodations for medical students and interns visiting from programs at the University of British Columbia in Kelowna and Vancouver.
“We’ve actually been trying to put this together for some years now,” said Janice Perrino, executive director of the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation. She said the house was made possible thanks to a $500,000 donation from a local family that has asked to remain anonymous for now.
Site preparation on the south side of the PRH grounds near the psychiatric ward began in December.
The residence itself is a modular building that will be trucked to the location and craned into place, hopefully by late spring.
The seven-bedroom facility will feature a kitchen, bathrooms and other comforts of home, said Perrino, and will replace a dated trailer where visiting medical students currently stay at PRH.
“It’s easily 30 years old and I understand it was a daycare before it was turned into rooms,” said Perrino, adding the new home, which will require a small fee from guests, should help with hospital staff recruitment.
She said the foundation considered purchasing a house or condominium elsewhere in the city, but the chosen location right on hospital grounds couldn’t be beat.
“This will be a very welcome facility to accommodate trainees and we look forward to the completion in the near future,” said Dr. Jacqueline Stewart, the president of the Penticton Medical Society, in an email.
“This will certainly be a more comfortable place for our students and residents and is ideally located for access to the hospital.”