Teck Resources donates $10 million to help build emergency room at new St. Paul’s Hospital
Tiffany Crawford
The Province
A rendering of the new St. Paul’s Hospital at the False Creek Flats.
Teck Resources Limited has donated $10 million to help build an emergency room at the new $2 billion St. Paul’s Hospital at the Jim Pattison Medical Centre.
The new ER will be named the Teck Emergency Department and will address wait times for access to treatment, non-emergency illnesses and injuries, and help patients with complex mental health and substance use needs, according to the company.
Construction will also include the use of virus-killing copper to protect staff and patients from bacteria and viruses. Teck was also involved in TransLink’s pilot program to install copper on busses and SkyTrain.
St. Paul’s is one of the busiest emergency departments in British Columbia, reaching 85,000 visits a year, up from 65,000 in 2010, according to Teck.
Construction of the new hospital kicked off earlier this month, the largest hospital redevelopment project in B.C.’s history.
The new hospital, on Station Street in the False Creek Flats, will have capacity for up to 548 beds, a net increase of 115 beds over the hospital in downtown Vancouver that it is replacing.
The new facility will be a “full-service” acute-care hospital, and will offer HIV/AIDS care, emergency and critical care, mental health and addictions program, and be home to several provincial programs and referral centres, including heart and lung care, specialty surgeries and transplants, and eating disorders.
It will continue to be a teaching hospital for University of British Columbia medical school students and British Columbia Institute of Technology nursing students.
The hospital is expected to open in 2027.
© 2021 The Province
