Construction has begun on a new hospital in Terrace, located 576 km west of Prince George, according to a statement issued on Tuesday by the B.C. Ministry of Health.
The new 78-bed hospital will replace the 52-bed Mills Memorial Hospital, which currently serves the town and surrounding areas. In addition to the acute care hospital, a 25-bed replacement for the 20-bed Seven Sisters regional mental health facility will be constructed on the hospital grounds.
"This project is an important investment for the entire region of northwestern B.C.,” Northern Health chairperson Colleen Nyce said in a press release. “When we build new facilities, it strengthens our network of services. A new facility enables improvements in health services, not just in the community it is built, but in the entire area. This new hospital is good news for all the residents of northwestern B.C. and the physicians and staff who provide care here too."
The new hospital, being built on the north end of the current hospital grounds, is expected to open in 2025.
Once open the new hospital will serve as the region’s level three trauma and impatient surgery services centre, providing immediate assessment, resuscitation, surgery and intensive care for injured patients. The current Mills Memorial Hospital is a level-four trauma centre, meaning many patients are stabilized on site before being transported to higher levels of care in Prince George or Vancouver.
The new hospital will be twice the size of the current hospital, and will have a twice the emergency room patient capacity. Once finished, the new hospital will have the latest diagnostic imaging equipment, two trauma bays, six stretcher bays, four operating rooms and expanded mental health services.
"This is an exciting time for people in Terrace and the region, as work is getting going on a state-of-the-art hospital," Health Minister Adrian Dix said in a press release. "There has been a lot of talk about a new hospital in Terrace, going back to 2010 when the request was originally made to replace the facility. I'm proud that our government recognized the need and took action, getting us to this important milestone."
Northern Health has committed to work with local and regional First Nations to make the hospital culturally safe and welcoming, the statement said.
The $622.6 million project is being funded by the provincial government, through Northern Health, and the North West Regional Hospital district which contributed $110.2 million.
"As funding partners in this project, all of us on the North West Regional Hospital District Board and probably everyone in the region couldn't be happier to hear this magnificent news today,” hospital district chairperson Barry Pages said in a press release. “We are so pleased that the construction of a new Mills Memorial hospital will begin and even more excited for when the much-needed, new facility opens its door with expanded and improved services."
