Construction work has begun on the new patient care tower at Lions Gate Hospital, which serves the Sea-to-Sky corridor, Sunshine Coast, Powell River, Bella Bella and Bella Coola on the Central Coast, as well as local Indigenous communities.
The new acute care tower will be built on the current Lions Gate Hospital site where the former North Vancouver General Hospital was located. Also known as the Activation building, it was demolished in spring 2017.
“It’s an exciting day for people in the region as shovels are going in the ground for the new tower,” said Adrian Dix, minister of health. “People will be able to get quality, publicly funded health care in a state-of-the-art facility, which will also help attract and retain health-care workers in the Coastal Community of Care as they prepare for any challenges that may lay ahead.”
The six-storey Paul Myers Tower will have eight operating rooms, a pre-operative and post-operative care area, including anesthesia intervention and isolation rooms. There will be 108 beds in 84 single rooms. All will have ensuite washrooms.
Vancouver Coastal Health is working in collaboration with representatives from Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations to ensure both the design of the new tower and the services provided support the provision of culturally safe care.
The tower is expected to be ready for patients in 2024.
The project cost of approximately $310 million will be shared between the province, Vancouver Coastal Health, and a $100-million fundraising campaign by Lions Gate Hospital Foundation. The new tower is named after North Shore businessperson and philanthropist Paul Myers, who donated $25 million.
“People on the North Shore deserve to know that there’s a modern, high-quality hospital facility available in their community if they or their loved ones ever find themselves in the position to require acute care,” said Bowinn Ma, minister of state for infrastructure and MLA for North Vancouver-Lonsdale. “Our government’s decision to take action on building a new Lions Gate Hospital tower is incredibly important to our community and I’m pleased to see construction underway.”
Lions Gate Hospital currently has 254 beds, eight operating rooms and a variety of diagnostic services and equipment.
