UBCH hosts Health Minister Terry Lake
Following his tour of VGH, the Honourable Terry Lake visited UBC Hospital (UBCH) on August 27, 2013. There, our new Minister of Health and Deputy Minister Stephen Brown learned about the potential UBCH offers to ease demands at VGH and improve patient access to care.
“Vancouver Coastal Health’s campus of care within UBC holds many more services than an excellent teaching hospital,” says Laura Case, interim chief operating officer, Vancouver Community. “The campus is home to residential care, mental health and addiction services, and the hospital has the talent, expertise and capacity to build upon their excellent work.”
Tools of the trade: Steve Kabanuk (right), director, perioperative services, shows Minister Terry Lake (centre) and Mario Miniaci, executive assistant to the minister, boxes of joint implants outside UBCH ORs.
By conducting more planned surgeries, including more acute and complex cases, UBCH can help relieve some of the pressures at VGH and — most importantly — ensure patients receive the care they need, when they need it.
Our tour hosts painted a picture of UBC Hospital’s Koerner Pavilion in (we hope) the not-too-distant future. A hospital with expanded ORs, more beds and enhanced support services for a more complex surgical caseload.
Room to grow: Mary Nieforth (right), director, cardiac sciences and special projects, explains how the relocation of clinics from Koerner Pavilion to the Djavad Mowfaghian Centre for Brain Health Centre will help free hospital space for more inpatient beds.
“We’re confident our vision for UBC Hospital is attainable, but infrastructure changes will require capital investment, including the ongoing support of our VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation,” explains Laura.
Over the course of the minister’s tour, he also became acquainted with our services, achievements and challenges at Purdy Pavilion, the campus residential care facility, and Detwiller Pavilion, where secondary and tertiary inpatient and outpatient mental health services are provided.
Last, but definitely not least, our tour concluded at the Djavad Mowfaghian Centre for Brain Health (DMCBH), currently under construction and scheduled for completion in November 2013. A partnership between VCH, the Brain Research Centre and UBC Faculty of Medicine, the DMCBH will unite — for the first time under one roof — patient clinics and research in the areas of neuroscience, neurology, and psychiatry.
“The minister’s visit was an opportunity for us to brag about our staff’s and physicians’ achievements, bring challenges to his attention and, quite frankly, wow him,” says Laura. “I believe we accomplished what we set out to do.”