Plans to upgrade the pharmacy at Squamish General Hospital appear to be moving forward and the project's cost should be the same as budgeted for in 2008, Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) officials told the Sea to Sky Regional Hospital District (SSRHD) board on Monday (March 28).
That project, as well as a plan to upgrade the laboratory at the Pemberton Health Centre, have been on hold while VCH worked to secure the money to begin work. Financing for the projects is expected to be in place by this summer. SSRHD board chair Paul Lalli called Monday's meeting a "positive" one after the two sides have had difficulty putting plans into motion.
In December, the hospital district board told VCH officials that the two projects would be pursued as a package with the Whistler helipad upgrades and expressed frustration that VCH didn't have the money to proceed. Work on the urgently needed Whistler helipad upgrade has been ongoing for the past two months.
The SSRHD had already put its 40 per cent share of funding for the three initiatives on the table after VCH had labelled them as top priorities, but the board chose not to release funding for the projects until VCH was able to produce its 60 per cent.
Indications from Monday's meeting were that VCH's share should be on the way soon.
"It now goes to a committee that approves capital projects," Lalli said. "We're still waiting for approval on those two projects (Squamish and Pemberton), and obviously as chair of the hospital district, I'm really encouraging the powers that be to look on them favourably because they're needed services within the corridor and in our communities.
"We're hopeful we get the support from the committee so we can proceed."
In December, the district board also asked VCH to "refresh" the original budget for the projects since they were drafted three years ago. Lalli said VCH officials had no changes to report Monday.
"The total amount for the two projects, the Pemberton lab and Squamish pharmacy, will come within those numbers still, which is very positive," Lalli said.
Lalli said no firm date was given on when VCH's share of funding might be approved, though officials were hopeful that it would be made available in May. He added that VCH officials gave time frames of approximately 18 months or less "from tendering to completion" on both the Pemberton and Squamish projects.
The Squamish Hospital upgrade is needed to make conditions safe for pharmacists who mix the cocktails of chemicals used by cancer patients as part of their chemotherapy treatments. Some of the cocktails include radioactive isotopes and the planned upgrade would include a small "reverse pressure room" with a piece of equipment called a mixing hood that allows the pharmacists to mix the chemicals while venting away any harmful elements.
Lalli told The Chief on Wednesday (March 30) that the purchase of the mixing hood has been approved and that it could be in service in a temporary location at Hilltop House by this May. The estimated cost of the Squamish pharmacy upgrade is around $1.5 million, and officials are working to finalize the budgets for that project and the Pemberton Health Centre lab project, he said.
With files from David Burke, The Chief
