Dear Editor,
As a kid, riding my horse and bailing hay in the fields along Westminster Highway, I remember the towering Richmond Hospital as the only building more than three storeys. Over the past 50 years, the hospital and staff have been there for our family through illness, emergencies, operations, deaths and births. We’ve always needed it, and now, it needs all of us.
The provincial government, Richmond MLAs and candidates, need to make binding commitments to invest, now, in our community and dedicate funding for a new Richmond Hospital north tower.
Richmond Hospital is critical infrastructure just like a bridge, a firehall or a police station. In a disaster, natural or human-caused, a hospital quickly becomes a vital epicentre for successfully managing the crisis. The Richmond Hospital tower, regardless of the dedication of staff, is long past its expiration date. The replacement of the tower is necessary for several reasons, including patient capacity, modernity and meeting current seismic standards. More so, the tower merits replacement to ensure public safety.
Even in the case of a moderate earthquake, the hospital, including up to 108 beds and eight operating rooms, is at extreme risk with some key assets below the flood plain. Operating rooms, built to outdated standards, are far too small to accommodate modern, state-of-the-art equipment and Richmond has a very low ratio of beds per population (about one per 1,000 people).
A further sign of the tower’s inadequacy is in the few amount of single rooms. Single rooms are very important in controlling infections and limiting the spread of infections. Richmond Hospital has about 10 per cent single rooms, whereas the effective, modern standard is 80 per cent.
Furthermore, overall, the old tower has an 80 per cent fail rate in terms of a major systems analysis.
In the 1960s, Richmond had about 60,000 residents and the “new” hospital had about 132 beds. Now, with more than 200,000 residents, our old and outdated hospital has 233 beds.
Richmond’s population will continue to grow to approximately 250,000 by 2030, and the senior population, with the longest life expectancy (85) in Canada, is forecasted to be 65,000.
It’s been 20 years since the need for a Richmond Hospital tower replacement was first identified.
In terms of prioritizing infrastructure capital spending, the provincial government has to match Richmond’s community leadership, which has already raised a very significant percentage of the total cost.
Support Richmond Hospital and contact your MLA, all candidates and the provincial government.
The time for a new Richmond Hospital is now!
Andy Hobbs
Richmond
