www.nanaimobulletin.com
Thursday, May 31, 2012
ER nearing completion
T
he massive fir beams in the entranceway are in place and painters are hard at work inside the new, state-of-the-art emergency department at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. In about 18 months, the $36.9-million project went from a hole in the ground to a two-storey building that now resembles the artists’ renderings. Construction is on track for an August or September opening, said Jim Morris, project manager with the Vancouver Island Health Authority. “It’s going to be an exciting place,” he said. “It’s bright, it’s open, it’s got state-of-the-art equipment.” The $36.9-million project will triple the size of the department, which was designed to serve 15,000 patients per year but now serves about 54,000. The new facility boosts the number of treatment rooms from 24 to 39 and also includes a psychiatric emergency services unit, which replaces the current department’s single room reserved for mental health patients, and a six-bed psychiatric intensive care unit. The hospital does not currently have a psychiatric intensive care unit and these types of patients are currently sent to Courtenay or Victoria, said Morris. Six internal courtyards stretch the length of both top and bottom floors, fl including three daylight wells in the stretcher/bay area, flooding fl the building with plenty of natural light – a feature that Morris said is proven to reduce medication errors, staff sick time and stress. “It creates a more healing environment,” said Morris. “The big difference is that these daylight wells are right in the centre of the treatment spaces.”
City drivers energized by electric cars Nanaimo drivers are beginning to warm up to the idea of electric vehicles, so the city is staying ahead of the curve by introducing public charging stations. Electric vehicle owners can plug-in free of charge (as it were) at three city-owned locations – two charging stalls will be available at the Beban Park Complex, one at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre parkade and
Having individual treatment rooms throughout instead of a curtain separating patients will allow for more privacy, he added, and each room will have a glass door that turns opaque at the push of a button and is easy to clean. Architects spent a great deal of time consulting with emergency staff when designing the facility and layout of the new ER is superior to the existing department, said Morris. The ambulance entrance is separated from patient entrance by fencing, and the trauma section backs onto the ambulance entrance. There are two separate waiting areas for patients who do not need to lie on a stretcher and patients will be placed in each based on the severity of their situations. The new facility is designed to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certification. fi ABOVE: Jim Morris, senior project manager with the
Vancouver Island Health Authority, uses artists’ renditions to describe interior and exterior features of the new emergency department at NRGH.
another a short distance away at the Port parkade. It cost the city $13,500 to install the two outlets at Beban Park and $8,400 total at VICC and Port parkades. The city has three Nissan Leaf electric vehicles and one converted electric Ford Ranger as part of its fl fleet, powered by two charging stations near city hall on Franklyn Street and two more at the public works yard on Labieux Road. Bruce Labell, Nanaimo’s fl fleet manager, said over time the city estimates about $25,000 in savings per EV over a 10-year
period compared to traditional vehicles while helping to achieve city goals to reduce its carbon footprint. For personal use, the average EV costs an estimated $300 annually to keep charged. Car buyers were given additional incentive to consider electric cars late last year. Beginning Dec. 1 the Ministry of Environment, LiveSmart B.C. and New Car Dealers Association of B.C. introduced the $7.5 million Clean Energy Vehicle incentive program. Clean energy vehicles include electric, fuel cell, plug-in hybrid or compressed natural gas cars or light trucks.
Nanaimo News Bulletin
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Mill creates clean power for houses Thousands of homes will be powered using clean energy produced at Nanaimo’s Harmac pulp mill. B.C. Hydro signed a 15-year agreement with the mill to buy green energy from a new 25-megawatt turbogeneration unit that will be installed at Harmac. “This is a big thing for our company,” said Levi Sampson, Nanaimo Forest Products president. “It’s another very good revenue stream. It really allows us to ride out the lows in the market.” The turbine will produce enough energy to power 17,000 homes annually and the company is investing $45 million to build the unit, which is expected to create 85 full-time jobs in construction, engineering and technical work. Ryan Prontack, Harmac’s engineering superintendent, said a green energy project was a goal for the mill’s employees, who partially own the mill, since it reopened in 2008. The mill already has one turbine, installed in the 1960s, that generates 30 megawatts of power, said Prontack. The existing turbine enabled Harmac to internally produce three-quarters of its energy needs and with the new turbine, all of the mill’s needs will be me. The remaining 15 megawatts will be sent on to B.C. Hydro’s grid. The turbine create energy using steam produced from hog fuel burned in the power boiler. To create the extra energy for the power grid, Harmac will burn about 40 per cent more hog fuel, but the fuel, which is basically bark, is considered carbon neutral. And as part of the agreement with Hydro, Harmac committed to implementing various energy-efficiency projects that will result in 11 gigawatt hours per year of electricity savings. The agreement is under B.C. Hydro’s Integrated Power Offer, which was developed to complement Natural Resources Canada’s Pulp and Paper Green Transformation program, through which Harmac received $27 million to make the mill more efficient and environmentally friendly.