Hospital employees working in cramped conditions as renovations continue at Mercy Hospital Community in Edmonton on February 10, 2014. In May 2013 a flood in the hospital caused extensive damage, forcing the displacement of tens of patients.
EDMONTON - The Misericordia Community Hospital isn’t exactly Namibia, but it is in drastic need of repairs, the president of Covenant Health said Monday.
Patrick Dumelie’s remarks follow quips from an ICU doctor who compared the 303-bed hospital’s flooding problems with those of an African nation.
“It’s a bit sensational to make those kinds of comparisons,” Dumelie said Monday, while defending the doctor’s concerns as genuine. “Certainly I respect her opinion and the way she described things.”
Dumelie says much of the 45-year-old hospital’s infrastructure — including plumbing, wiring, elevators and heating — is near the end of its life. A cramped temporary intensive care unit, built in 2001, has effectively become permanent. Many units have four beds per room, less than ideal for disease control.
On a media tour Monday, reporters saw walled off elevators and netting around unsafe stairway railings. In the emergency room, which every year sees double the 24,000 patients it’s designed to hold, there were intrusive shelves jutting out from the wall.
A three-year repair plan will cost $33 million. The province has supplied $15 million this year.
By April, the west-end hospital expects 53 beds will be opened following $5 million in repairs. Last May, a ruptured pipe caused an estimated 72,000 litres of water to cascade down several floors. In addition to forcing patients to be moved to the Royal Alexandra Hospital, dozens of elective surgeries were cancelled, 25 patients were moved to other units and 28 mental health patients were temporarily placed in the chapel, then the day surgery unit.
Dumelie says repairs can only go so far. The province will ultimately need to replace the building, he said, a process that would likely take five years. With help from Alberta Health Services, a service planning process will be completed in coming months.
New Democrat health critic David Eggen called on the government to immediately address the “litany of infrastructure problems,” calling the state of the hospital unfair to staff and patients. Liberal Leader Raj Sherman, a physician, said the hospital likely needs an injection of $300 million to $400 million.
“It’s tragic that in such a wealthy place we have a hospital that has Third World conditions,” Sherman said. “We need a new Misericordia Hospital here in Edmonton.
Patrick Dumelie’s remarks follow quips from an ICU doctor who compared the 303-bed hospital’s flooding problems with those of an African nation.
“It’s a bit sensational to make those kinds of comparisons,” Dumelie said Monday, while defending the doctor’s concerns as genuine. “Certainly I respect her opinion and the way she described things.”
Dumelie says much of the 45-year-old hospital’s infrastructure — including plumbing, wiring, elevators and heating — is near the end of its life. A cramped temporary intensive care unit, built in 2001, has effectively become permanent. Many units have four beds per room, less than ideal for disease control.
On a media tour Monday, reporters saw walled off elevators and netting around unsafe stairway railings. In the emergency room, which every year sees double the 24,000 patients it’s designed to hold, there were intrusive shelves jutting out from the wall.
A three-year repair plan will cost $33 million. The province has supplied $15 million this year.
By April, the west-end hospital expects 53 beds will be opened following $5 million in repairs. Last May, a ruptured pipe caused an estimated 72,000 litres of water to cascade down several floors. In addition to forcing patients to be moved to the Royal Alexandra Hospital, dozens of elective surgeries were cancelled, 25 patients were moved to other units and 28 mental health patients were temporarily placed in the chapel, then the day surgery unit.
Dumelie says repairs can only go so far. The province will ultimately need to replace the building, he said, a process that would likely take five years. With help from Alberta Health Services, a service planning process will be completed in coming months.
New Democrat health critic David Eggen called on the government to immediately address the “litany of infrastructure problems,” calling the state of the hospital unfair to staff and patients. Liberal Leader Raj Sherman, a physician, said the hospital likely needs an injection of $300 million to $400 million.
“It’s tragic that in such a wealthy place we have a hospital that has Third World conditions,” Sherman said. “We need a new Misericordia Hospital here in Edmonton.
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