a Am RR wo A new | intensive care unit and a renovated emergency room| bh on “AT. A combined 5, 000 “Square feet and at a cost of : $1.9 million, a brand new intensive ‘care: unit and a completely renovated emergency room make up arguably the most important construction project:in this area in the last while. _ “ The new 3,000- square a 6 foot’. intensive care unit (ICU) is right beside’ the ‘renovated 2,000 square. foot _ emergency room’ (ER) on _ the hospital’s main floor. It means: nurses in one ‘unit can assist those in 1 the _ other when required. « _ And having the two units ; “ side by side means it'll be a ‘safer and easier to transfer * “critically ill patients from: * the ER to the ICU. . - minants about the, project,” ‘ region’s . Health - Authority official. i “Tt’s all about the’ patient.” '. The, current ICU is’ on ‘ the hospital’s second floor, making for a long and com- : plicated trip down the hospi- - tal’s main floor corridor and up the elevator. — - The new ICU has four. 4 _. beds with room for a fifth “ . and it has new state-of-the " art monitoring-equipment. ‘. Next door, the new ER ‘ has five | stretcher areas “.— those spaces encircled by drapes. That’s one fewer than the old ER but there are more Specific treatment. rooms for casting, gynecological exams, ear, nose and throat ‘exams and the like. <- The new ER also comes _ with a far more efficient and ’ larger nurses’ station and an ‘ area in the front where pa- * tients can be assessed before t ae ve ‘treatment!’ ' Pods is ' . The’. major change says” Rowena. Holoien, the chief Northern: *- cially online. , moving the trauma room. ‘from the back of the ER to | A i the very front. _ _ It goes hand in hand with eo changes made to the out- a side entrance. Ambulance “paramedics will now use a : sliding door separate to the * general public one. That sliding door opens * with a special code enabling “paramedics to take a pa- tient on a stretcher straight = - i through, across a short corri- - dor and right into the trauma _room. _Ambulance Service here 7. _ says having quick access to a “the trauma room makes it “more efficient for paramed- ics, - ' “We don’ t have to walk ‘through the whole ER while working on a seriously ill or injured patient. That can be pretty traumatic for the other. - . patients in there,” says Carl The unit chief of the B.C. ' service-only door that’s op- “Tt was one of the deter- - nance’ ‘superintendent Bruce bringing in a patient or pa- - ' be renovated. -ICU work has _ finished, ' the new trauma room. will improve patient care at Mills. Memorial Wassink. ' Having an ‘ambulance erated by a code means para- medics, won’t have to ring for nurses to open the doors, he said. " The new ER also. has locked cupboards so. am- bulance crews can refresh _ any supplies they’ ve used in’ tients.’ “We really like that. It reduces our downtime. Oth-. erwise we would have to-go “back to the station,” said : -Wassink. : -Construction work on the new ICU space began last . fall and: was finished early this year, setting in motion a - series of events not yetcom- .: plete.” - Once the new. FICcu space » “was finished; the ER moved ” “in, allowing its old space to The ER has now moved back to its newly renovated quarters, while the new ICU - is being cleaned up: cand fit- ted out before coming, offi- “We'll be able to do some training with the new : equipment in the ICU before moving... patients in,” said Holoien. ° . ee | The construction and - renovation went very. well, says Bob Mailer of Viking Construction, * the general . contractor on the project. “The people in the hospi-. tal were great to. deal: with. They made the job a lot. eas- ier, ” he added. = ‘One advantage i is.that the ICU was built onto one of the hospital’s newer . areas, meaning that the heating and other systems were pretty new, said hospital mainte- Authority official Rowena Holoien and Mills maintenance superintendent Bruce Nicholls stand in one of the four patient rooms in the new intensive care unit. Nichols. Although the hospital’s main building dates back to the 1950s, it has had a lot of work done to ‘it in this de- cade, he added. “I'd say a third of the space has been redone re- cently, and that’s pretty good,” said Nichols. That work includes .a_ completely renovated psych | ward and a new renal dialy- : ‘sis unit in the wing that once held offices. Although the ER and there’s one more project to _do ~ moving the chemother- _apy treatment area upstairs to where the ICU is now - housed. ’. That’s needed because the chemo room was located in back of the ER, a space that’s now been taken up by ce as oe “ mer ICU'on the second floor The longer term plan. is ‘renovated to better accom- to have the soon-to-be for- _ modate the chemo service. Hoes sO . " a moved upstairs when the ‘can be used right away.” _ICU moves downstairs,” said Holoien. “It’s a space | that ' “Chemo now goes on in the ER itself, but it'll be c » NURSE: LAURIE Dahms stands in the new nursing station in the renovated emer- |. . gency room at Mills Memorial Hospital. The re-done’ ER is a vast improvement * over the old one. Below, months of construction work is now completed’ and the new intensive care unit at Mills Memorial is just about ready for use. From left,. Bob - Mailer of Viking Construction, the prime contractor on the project, Northern Health. e The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 3, 2006-A5 - CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD The Mail Bag No room for politics. - Dear Sir: _ John Jensen’s April 26 letter to the editor regarding my ‘appointment as the forest safety ombudsman requires cor- rection. The position is not a government appointment, but a position established and paid for by the Forest Safety = ‘ Council, a group that represents the entire forest industry, including labour. All its members, not labour alone, spoke a” . up loud and clear on the unacceptability of the numbers of ~ “y deaths and serious injuries in thé forest sector and decided . something fundamentally needed to be done. " The statistics Mr. Jensen refers.to, reflect the. safety performance in 2005. In 2004,, the industry experienced © the lowest number of fatalities; both years under. the same 7 regulatory framework but: still unacceptable. It’s ‘impor- ° "tant to note that 1996 and 1997. were two of the worst years ever despite an entirely different set of rules 2 at t that time. If the solution to making our forests safer’ was as easy and simple as more regulations, governments of all stripes would have done it years ago. Itisamuch more complex... problem, requiring the cooperation of every sector of the os industry and something politics has no place in. The forest safety ombudsman’s office becomes that wy doorway for owner operators, sub- “contractors, contrac-. tors, licensees and workers to use, to raise issues where. _ other processes are not available to them. .It is another oll resource being introduced by the collective forest industry - ‘to-help change the unacceptable rate of i injury occurring .in our woods... “ 7 ye Except for my four years in public office I have spent; a A my life working in the forest industry. A member of my _ . family died working in the woods and I have a permanent - disability as a result of-a falling accident in: 1986. I know, on a very personal ‘level the impact on families from ac- cidents in the bush. Ialso understand clearly the level of . importance and potential that, this position has in helping | change a culture of an industry where accidents have been” acceptable for far too long. 7 _ April 28 is‘a day of mourning for injured workers and” ~ wes their families. It,is a;day to show respect and we do them a -all a disfavor‘to treat this day ‘differently. My family and - So 1 observed it in the same manner we remember other Ca-. °° nadians on November 11 and hope everyone else took a. Sa little time out to do the same. - Te Roger Harris, Terrace, B B. Cc. ae Writer was out of line af Dear Sir: re Is Jessica Mikolayezyk for real in cher recent letter to the editor criticizing school trustee Huey- -lin Wu for ‘sug-° gesting that an outside.advisor be called i in to look at the Loe -School district’ s finances? wo a - ° Is the: supreme authority of the school trustee. not to . a - be questioned i in any’ way? ' Give me:a. break. Ti can't sit© 9) 2. quietly by and not respond to this one.'As far as I’mcon-. cerned Ms. Wu did what the people | elected her to do and”. I give her credit. Obviously there has been some question . as to the'numbers so why not set the record straight? I.un-. derstand the motion almost passed. Also according tothe - ; school board’s own survey, 70 per c cent'of parents did not a -want’a’4-day ‘week. (I realize it’s ‘an: ‘old'survey, but thére - hasn’t been another one since.) _ _ Now I didn’t go to the consultations this’ year, mostly | because last year all I got out of it was “go with the 4-day 4 week or we’ll close your kids school,” but I did sendin «© = “ my comments as asked.’ Well low and behold, ‘Ms.- Wu _ was the only one to respond and thank'me for my com-)' | *”: ments. I guess the rest are way to busy to type a thank you : and click on reply. Or was it because [had an opinion they. a - didn’t agree with. is Also the last time I went toa school board meeting I " was ‘met. with a display of arrogance and disdain by the: os . Majority. of the: board. because I had the nerve to speak'” . { - out against the 4-day week. I do have to say | that there’ are some board members who showed some genuine signs of. empathy and to them I apologize for this letter. The facts are that there: were some*good solutions - put forward by others that were workable. They -weren’t. perfect but they were’ a trade: off that: both sides could: . have-lived with. Other school boards have managed to find solutions and there is no reason why this one couldn’t.*:.. ~ ou 7 be For some reason this board.is hell bent on keeping the’ cpt 4-day week no matter what the cost to children.and par- ‘ents: If I was ‘to speculate (as Jessica did on Ms. Wu's rationale) I might say it’s for: ‘their own personal politi-- . cal ambitions. Oh no, did that just slip out. But ’'m just | a working stiff, what do I know? just pay my taxes so_ those school board members can afford to sit in those big chairs and look down on-me. If the poor economy ‘isn’t - we enough to drive young working: families out of Terrace, ar then the 4-day school week will finish the job, _ To Ms. Wu and the others who voted in favour of. a co Donation adds to new 5-day adjusted school week, thank you. and keep up the = we THE R.E.M. LEE Hospital Foundation has" received a substantial donation from the Kitimat General Hospital Auxiliary, putting it closer.to its goal of raising $650,000 for a new CT scanner at’ Mills Memorial Hospital. ‘The $50,000 donation is an example of how .. groups outside of Terrace realize the benefit that a state-of-art diagnostic tool has to the region, says ; ‘foundation chair Kevin Kennedy. — “A drive to Terrace for this kind of service as \@ >= opposed to having to fly south is much prefer- able,” said Kennedy. - And he hopes the Kitimat ‘auxiliary donation — encourages other groups and ‘businesses outside of Terrace to donate. “Local response has been great with donations and commitments,” added Kennedy: -. The hospital foundation is within. $100, 000 of its $650,000 goal, a commitment it made in late . # 2004 as part of the estimated $1.65 million cost of replacing an obsolete CT scanner at Mills that is expensive to use and which is now. miles behind in current technology. CT scanners provide physicians with detailed images of the inside of patients, enabling them to determine the condition of the patient. The $650,000 foundation goal is its largest sin- H gle drive since it raised the majority of the money ‘in the early 1990s to buy the CT scanner that is ' . now being replaced. 7 The remaining $1 million i is coming from the Northern Health Authority thanks.to a combina- tion of federal and provincial grants aimed at im-. proving medical services in the north. This new CT scanner will be located in the same area at Mills as the current one, lowering renovation costs. ‘Tl scan goal THE CURRENT CT.scanner at Mills Memorial Hospital, shown here in a file photo with GE Medical Systems technician during its 1993 installation, is outdated and a rnewcone is being purchased. Health. officials set an - August deadline late last year for installation and training. The project is running a bit behind but an August startup is within reach, said Northern Health official Ken Winnig, who is in charge of high tech imaging services. “We’re in the final selection phase. Our: technical staff.is currently assessing the function-' ality and operation of the various new CT scanner - models,” said Winnig. Three companies are in the running to’ supply the new device. The successful bidder will also be responsible for removing the old CT scanner. Northern Health is also installing a OE scanner - in Quesnel and has included it in the same bidding documents as the one for‘here in the expectation _that a package deal will bring about a lower price. |. Mills Memorial is also benefitting from an- other jump in medical technology, a high tech im- — age storing system called a Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS). It’s intended to make storing, retrieving and sending images a lot easier and cheaper because none of the work will involve developing film. Instead, it will be based on computer-driven digital images. - Disney movie rated “‘G” for family entertainment. ‘good work. oe ts Chay Dunsford. 7 Terrace, BC. oe _ Inappropriate trailers _ | 4 Dear Sir: |, cs TL took my two young school-aged children to see the : : 1: 00 pm showing of the-new release movie, “Eight Be- . A low”, at the Tillicum Twin: Theatre i in Terrace.. This i is a. ; _. To my total disgust and great anger there were. three’ Oe ‘pre-movie trailers shown all rated: at least “14A” if not =” “R”. These trailers upset my family eriough: that'‘we had ot _ to leave the theatre. Other parents covered their children’s eyes and ears while somé tried to rush their children’ out. stumbling in the dark and spilling popcorn.» NS It is bad enough that we as an audience are held captive ae - for as. long as 10-15 minutes before the feature film and — : ‘bombarded by trailers of advertisements but when horror, sf movie trailers are projected ‘larger: than life on a: screen’ wo intended for family viewing we have to draw the line. a I went to complain to the management and was told " half-heartedly that, “a mistake had been made.” _ Since this incident several parents have told me about similar “mistakes” being made at our local theatre. There ad is no excuse for this kind of behaviour. Shame on you Til- ed jicum. Next time P'll wait until the video.is released... "Crystal Thomas, Terrace, B. Cc. About the Mail Bag The Terrace’ Standard. welcomes letters. Our address is 3210 Clinton St., Terrace, B.C. V8G 5R2. 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