The new emergency room has opened at Penticton Regional Hospital.
Interior Health has been working on renovating and upgrading the emergency department this year, after opening the new David E. Kampe patient tower last year.
“Our government is committed to upgrading hospitals around the province, including Penticton, and I have been a strong supporter of this project from the start,” said Adrian Dix, B.C.’s Minister of Health. “This progress represents another step forward in ensuring quality health care in a modern, 21st century facility for people living in the South Okanagan for many years to come. The expanded emergency department is part of Phase 2 of the David E. Kampe Tower construction project, and includes a new examination room and patient registration area which means enhanced patient care.”
EllisDon construction company has done the renovations to the emergency department and built the patient tower as well.
As part of this phase, a major renovation will also expand the pharmacy and materiel stores. The work is taking place over multiple phases to allow the emergency department and pharmacy to remain open during the project. These areas will continue to open in phases from January 2021 to early 2022.
Before registration, patients arriving at Penticton’s emergency are seen by a nurse for assessment and directed to the appropriate level of care.
The ‘nurse first’ process is considered best practices and is in place at other facilities in Interior Health and across the province.
The emergency entrance has not changed – it is still accessed off of Carmi Avenue.
The David E. Kampe Tower Project included the six-storey hospital tower and associated parkade that both opened to patients in April 2019.
The total project cost of $312.5 million was shared between the provincial government, the Okanagan-Similkameen Regional Hospital District, Interior Health and the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation.
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