Northern Health Opens $301.8-Million Facility

July 12, 2012 - Premier Opens Fort St. John Hospital and Peace Villa

FORT ST. JOHN - Premier Christy Clark today officially opened the Fort St. John Hospital and Peace Villa, which will provide families and seniors expanded hospital and residential-care services inside a new $301.8-million facility.

"This new and modern state-of-the-art facility shows our commitment to making smart investments in patient care for the growing number of families and seniors in the North," said Premier Clark. "With its new birthing centre, the hospital will give new moms and babies the best start. Peace Villa will provide seniors with the care and supports they need to age with dignity and respect."

At 23,000 square metres, the new hospital is double the size of the original facility built in the 1960s. It includes an expanded emergency room and ambulatory care department, an intensive care unit, larger operating rooms, endoscopy suite and a birthing centre, which is the first of its kind in the North. There is also academic space for the Northern Medical Program.

More than 1,900 jobs were created throughout the life of the project, and approximately 20 local construction companies helped build the new facilities.

"This is the first full hospital replacement of this size in the North," said Pat Pimm, MLA for Peace River North. "The new hospital and Peace Villa will provide Fort St. John and the surrounding communities with quality health-care services for years to come."

"The new hospital and residential-care facility will provide new and expanded patient-care services for Peace River North, and help meet increased demand in the future for health services," said Peace River South MLA Blair Lekstrom. "This project is an important part of the broader regional network of facilities, which includes Dawson Creek and District Hospital, aimed towards improving health-care delivery in the Peace River region."

"The Fort St. John clinical design team, in collaboration with ISL Health, created a facility which incorporates the best practices for delivering quality health care services," said Cathy Ulrich, CEO and president of Northern Health. "We are all proud of this facility and its capability to serve the community, and we thank our partners for helping us achieve this incredible goal."

"It is exciting to see a project of this magnitude come to fruition," said Peace River Regional Hospital District chair Karen Goodings. "The new Fort St. John Hospital and Peace Villa is the result of years of hard work by everyone involved."

The project is a public-private partnership between Northern Health and ISL Health. ISL Health is responsible for the design, building, partially financing and maintaining the facilities. Northern Health retains ownership of the building and provides all health and medical services.