A Proud History,
A Bright Future
The Campaign to Transform
Burnaby Hospital
Together, we’ve raised $30 million
But, our work is not done.
In under 3 years, you have helped the Foundation raise $30 million for Phase One of the redevelopment of Burnaby Hospital. Phase One focuses on four critically important services for all local families: emergency, surgery, maternity and mental health.
Burnaby Hospital Foundation still needs your help to transform a beloved community hospital into a state-of-the-art facility that will meet the growing health care needs of Burnaby and East Vancouver for generations to come.
This milestone is only the first step in a larger campaign. The multi-phase redevelopment will significantly expand the services available for patients and families and boost the number of beds by almost 50%. When the redevelopment is complete, the hospital campus will have expanded medical services, two new patient care towers and a cancer treatment centre.
Burnaby Hospital is a community serving a community. Our family of nurses, doctors and health care professionals take great pride in their spirit of innovation and dedicated service to patients. But they are severely challenged in their ability to provide 21st century care in a hospital that was built in 1952 and has not been expanded since 1978.
Now the third largest city in B.C., the population of Burnaby alone has increased by 75 per cent since the late 1970s. What was once a small hospital now serves 500,000 people, the majority coming from the surrounding communities of Burnaby and East Vancouver.
While the need for care continues to climb, along with our growing and aging population, our hospital has reached its capacity. The limited, older physical space poses many challenges that make it difficult to provide a modern environment that supports the need to serve more people, foster innovation and provide best practices in patient-centred care.
These challenges include: the lack of space to expand much-needed services, such as emergency and surgery; treatment areas that are too small for modern standards; specialized patient care services that are divided between different buildings; nursing units where most patients share rooms and bathrooms; a lack of dedicated waiting areas for patients and families; and a shortage of parking.
When construction begins on Phase One of one of B.C.’s largest health care redevelopment projects in recent years, Burnaby Hospital will begin its journey to a bright future. Building is set to begin in 2022 and to be completed in 2025.
The physical transformation will have an immediate impact on patients and families and provide our innovative care teams with the space and tools to do their best work.
A new six-floor patient-care tower will be modern, energy efficient and full of natural light. The new build will add 24 inpatient beds for medical patients and create state-of-the art space for all of the hospital’s maternity and newborn services. The tower will make it possible to create a unit designed for adults with mental health and substance use concerns.
The majority of new patient care rooms will be single rooms with a dedicated bathroom, providing patients and families with comfort and privacy as well as meeting modern standards for infection control.
At the same time, the existing Support Facilities Building will be expanded and extensively renovated to accommodate more patients and improve patient flow, including significant changes to the Emergency Department and operating room suite.
Phase One will also add more parking, making access easier for patients and visitors.
Burnaby Hospital has a proud history! The community came together to build our hospital almost 70 years ago. Now we’re asking for your help to create a bright and healthy future for the people of Burnaby and East Vancouver.
Thanks to one of the biggest investments in health care in B.C. to date, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create state-of-the-art facilities that will serve the community for generations to come.
Burnaby Hospital Foundation is raising $30 million for Phase One of this transformation—a new tower and the expansion of the Support Facilities Building. Your donation will help to purchase the medical equipment and state-of-the-art technology that will help our dedicated family of caregivers provide the best care for yours. Every donation counts.
Expanding Emergency care
Burnaby Hospital’s Emergency Department currently provides services to over 50% more patients than it was designed for.
Serving everyone in your family, the Emergency Department is the second largest in Fraser Health, providing 83,000 visits a year in a space that was designed for 54,000. Demand has more than doubled over 10 years. In the next 15 years, the need is expected to grow by another 35 per cent.
Phase One will add 10,000 square feet of new space, making it possible to expand and re-configure the current department and purchase innovative equipment and technology.
The changes will mean the team will be able to serve more patients and reduce wait times. As well as improving patient flow in Phase One, many of the new treatment bays will have walls instead of curtains for privacy and increased separation from other patients. In total, the Emergency Department will add 15 more treatment bays by the end of Phase Two, an increase of 30 per cent.
Other changes include a specialized zone for patients with mental health and substance use, the addition of new trauma rooms for the most critically ill patients and improved waiting areas for patients and families.
The Emergency Department will also benefit from the additional inpatient beds that will be opened in the tower, as there will be more space for patients who need to be admitted.
Growing our surgery services
Burnaby Hospital performs about 15,000 surgeries and minor procedures each year, including specialized services, such as joint replacement and sinus surgery.
Expanding and significantly improving the existing operating suite in the Support Facilities Building will make it possible to reduce wait times and increase access to surgery and procedures in an environment that accommodates today’s advances in care and technology.
Currently, our hospital performs about 15,000 surgeries and minor procedures each year, including specialized services, such as joint replacement and sinus surgery, which are provided for patients living in communities across Fraser Health as well as local residents.
The surgery team currently uses the equivalent to seven operating rooms and two procedure rooms on an average day, but it’s not enough to keep up with the growing need for surgery. It’s also difficult to provide 21st century care in space that was designed in the 1970s—the operating rooms are cramped and there is limited room to accommodate and store the high-tech equipment that is used for many of today’s surgeries.
When the transformation is complete, our hospital will have nine operating rooms, including four brand-new larger rooms. The operating suite will also have five procedure rooms, additional recovery and waiting areas for patients, and more room for support services.
Creating a maternity centre
As our community grows, we anticipate a 15 per cent growth in the number of babies born at Burnaby Hospital.
As the community grows, more and more young families need maternity care close to home. Over the next 15 years, we expect to see a 15 per cent growth in the number of babies born at Burnaby Hospital.
The tower is an opportunity to bring all of the hospital’s maternity and newborn services together in one place to streamline and improve care for families. Everything from maternity clinics and inpatient services for moms and babies to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit will be on one floor with easy access to the operating room.
As a brand-new maternity centre, we’ll also be able to provide single room maternity care, a modern approach to birthing where moms go through labour, deliver their babies and recover for the rest of their stay in the same well-equipped, comfortable room, supported by the same team of caregivers. Each single room will have a private bathroom and a space for partners to stay overnight.
Due to space limitations, moms currently give birth in one area and are then moved into a completely different one after delivery. Babies who need medical assistance immediately after birth also have to be transported to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit located on another floor.
Burnaby’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit team cares for babies who are born at Burnaby or transferred here from other locations because they are premature or have a health concern that requires specialized monitoring or treatment.
Some babies need this care for several months, and parents may spend many hours a day in this unit where all six babies are in one large room. The new unit will have single rooms for more privacy and comfort for families—there will be space for a parent to stay the night near to baby, privacy for breastfeeding and lots of natural light. Providing neonatal intensive care in single rooms is also the best practice for hospital infection control.
Building a new mental health unit
According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, in any given year, 1 in 5 people in Canada will personally experience a mental health problem or illness.
The new 30-bed Mental Health and Substance Use Unit that will be located in the new patient care tower will enable the mental health team to care for more patients in a bright purpose-built space designed for optimal, safe care. In addition, 5 crisis stabilization beds will be added into the Emergency Room.
The need for inpatient mental health services is rising steadily, and today’s patients are increasingly complex. The current unit often operates at capacity, making it challenging to admit patients from Emergency who need urgent inpatient care.
Formerly an extended care unit for frail seniors, the current 25-bed space does not meet the special needs of patients, including teenagers as well as adults, that suffer from a variety of mental health concerns. Only 16 per cent of the 25 beds are located in single rooms. With little private space, all patients are disturbed by noise or the behaviour of patients who are acutely ill, and the shared bathrooms do not meet modern infection control standards. In addition, the unit has only one large lounge for recreation activities and meals.
The new unit will have comfortable single rooms with private bathrooms located around a central nurses’ station. Special features include: a sensory intervention room equipped with tools to help patients calm themselves, minimizing the use of medications; a safe outdoor patio for fresh air, activities and family visits; separate activity rooms to accommodate different groups and ages of patients for recreation activities; and private meeting spaces for counselling or family visits.
How to help
Click the donate button below to make an immediate, tax-deductible online gift.
To discuss different giving options and other ways to get involved,
call 604.431.2881 or email.
