Selkirk's new hospital aims to put patients at ease, focus on recovery

For patients and their families in Selkirk, a trip to the hospital will soon be an entirely different experience, according to the region's health authority.

The city's new hospital, the $111 millionSelkirk Regional Health Centre, opens to the public Sunday. Patients will be brought from the old hospital about 100 metres away to the new hospitalwith help from 20 transfer workers and nine nurses.

After years of planning and design work, the new facility will feel more like a wellness centre than a traditional hospital, said Ron Janzen, vice president of corporate services with Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority.

"It's a very very different feel from what you're used to," he said.

It's designed on a pinwheel model, where various departments connect at a single centre point a large, open courtyard.

Gone are the days of gloomy, long hallways with patient rooms on either side. Selkirk's new hospital is larger, with more windows, greater privacy for patients and space for families and staff to be comfortable.

When the public enters through the front doors, they find themselves in a large, glass atrium that's designed to be welcoming, said Janzen.

"All these things have been very carefully designed to create an environment that is calming, that speaks towards healing and recovery," he said.

Manitoba's Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen describes it simply asa "beautiful building."

"The community and region have waited a long time, so obviously this is a proud moment for them," he said at a news conference Tuesday.

The hospital will have 65 beds: 45 medical beds, eight beds for surgeries, eight beds dedicated to obstetrics and family planning and four beds for intensive or special care.

Eighty per cent of the beds are single-occupancy rooms to improve patient privacy.

Janzensaid theSelkirkRegional Health Centre is completely wired for21stcentury technology that will allow doctors and other medical staff to easily access electronic records.

• Death of involuntary psychiatric patient prompts recommendation for better monitoring
• Teen gets 36 months for helping plan robbery at Selkirk rehab facility

"[It's] going to really change the way we communicate and deal with patient records and handle charts," he said.

Some of the other new features in the hospital include a larger emergency three times bigger than the old space along with a drive-thrubay for ambulances that is completely climate controlled.

The Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority is currently conducting a feasibility study to determine whether the old Selkirk hospital can still be used after staff and patients have vacated.