Businesses in Richmond have united to call for Premier John Horgan to include funding for a new acute care tower in the upcoming budget, to better serve the more than 100,000 daily workers in the city.
Led by the Richmond Chamber of Commerce, 102 local employers, who have nearly 12,000 workers, have signed a letter requesting the premier take action now.
Mayor Malcolm Brodie and Councillors Bill McNulty, Chak Au, Carol Day and Ken Johnston attended a chamber announcement Monday at Richmond Hospital, along with representatives of business owners, health professionals and the Richmond Hospital Foundation.
“We have heard the questions, ‘why the chamber, why is it a business issue, why do businesses care about this?’” said Rob Akimow, chamber chair.
“In fact, the matter of Richmond Hospital is a business issue. Richmond has been a net importer of jobs. Every day, over 100,000 workers are employed here in Richmond (2016 Census). We are also home for YVR, which serves more than 24 million passengers annually. We all rely on care here.”
Dr. Richard Chan, an emergency physician at Richmond Hospital, said a new acute care tower is urgently needed to support a growing number of workers in the city.
“People can fall ill anytime and often it happens while they are at work. When care is needed, we are here to help,” said Chan.
He shared an example of a patient who was experiencing severe chest pain at work last week and sent to Richmond Hospital by his co-workers. He was later diagnosed with a heart attack and treated by doctors.
However, a chamber member said sometimes workers are not so fortunate to receive instant help here in Richmond and have to be sent to other cities.
“We employ 250 people. When you have that many people, unfortunately sometimes you need emergency service,” said Alman Ei-Ramly, chief strategy officer for ZE Power Group.
“If we are lucky, they get served right away. If we are unlucky, maybe they don’t. Unfortunately, that’s the truth about Richmond; sometimes we have to recommend people to go to other hospitals if they need quick service.”
Hospital tour reveals inadequate environment
The Richmond News went on a tour of the hospital’s north tower to take a peek at the current medical environment.
The tour included shower rooms, a rehab room, a hospital ward and an operating room – all of them are smaller than the standard size, which negatively affects patients’ experience in the hospital, according to Rich Dillon, director of client relations and risk management of Richmond Hospital.
For example, the shower room is so small that a wheelchair cannot go inside. As a consequence, Dillon said in many cases, people with disabilities have to be cleaned in bed.
Meanwhile, the operating room of 30 net sq.m. is half the recommended size of 60 sq. m., and has to host up to 10 people at the same time, he added.
Dillon also pointed out that, the current hospital rooms accommodating four patients are too crowded and lack infection control. They hope 80 per cent of the wards in the new tower will be single-occupancy rooms.
