(January 29, 2010) Saskatoon – Patients with serious heart conditions needing critical care will have improved privacy and space to recover in at Royal University Hospital (RUH). Saskatoon Health Region has completed the first part of renovations to its Coronary Care Unit (CCU).
“This is such a positive step forward for CCU patients and families as well as staff and physicians,” says Heather Miazga, manager of nursing for CCU. “The five new rooms are 15-20 percent bigger than our current CCU rooms. Each room was designed to comfortably fit all the equipment needed for the most critically ill patient while improving the work flow for staff and physicians. New ceiling lifts will be in place, private washroom facilities available in each room, and state of the art monitoring systems added. We worked hard to design a space centered on what is best for the patient.”
The new space also includes a new CCU medication room, nurses’ work station, and CCU entry doors.
This is part of a six phase project for Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and CCU renovations at RUH. Renovations are occurring in phases to ensure patients are protected during construction and to minimize the disruption to patients, families, staff and physicians.
The project was started initially to increase capacity within the current ICU as part of an interim solution to deal with demand. However, in order to expand the ICU, we needed to shift the adjacent CCU over. This presented an excellent opportunity to make improvements to the CCU area, including increasing its capacity. So, it became part of the renovation.
In Phase 1, renovations were made to make space for the new CCU area. This included moving offices to a new location on the ground floor, expanding the family area, and relocating the critical care conference room.
Phase 2 is the opening of the new CCU area with five new private, permanent patient rooms.
On Monday, February 8th, walls will be erected over the old CCU area and contractors will move in to begin renovations to that space. This will be the start of Phase 3 and will mean the creation of four additional private, permanent CCU beds – bringing the total to nine. Currently, there are six CCU beds. This renovation is expected to take about three months.
The remaining phases will occur over the summer and into the fall and will focus on the expansion of ICU from the current 14 beds to 17. The project started in June 2009 and is expected to be completed in the fall/winter 2010.
While these renovations continue for the next several months, patients, families, staff and physicians will continue to be adjacent to a construction zone. The Region is making every effort to minimize the noise, odours and traffic.
We would like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding as we continue to move forward with this exciting project. For more information contact:
Linda Walker
Corporate and Public Affairs Adviser
Saskatoon Health Region
306-655-3328
-30-
Saskatoon Health Region
“Healthiest people, healthiest communities, exceptional service.”
|
