May 4, 2022

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WEDNESDAY MAY 4 2022

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12 NEW ROOMS

STRANGE STATISTICS

$9-million high acuity unit opens at Lions Gate Hospital

Census offers window into ‘stagnation’ of West Vancouver BRENT RICHTER

brichter@nsnews.com

JANE SEYD

jseyd@nsnews.com

The North Shore’s three municipalities are getting some wonky demographics, according to the newest census data, with the District of West Vancouver and District of North Vancouver growing apart from their more urban neighbour, the City of North Vancouver.

It’s one modern high-end suite you hope you never have to check in to.

But if you need it, one of the 12 rooms in Lions Gate Hospital’s brand-new “high acuity unit” could be a literal lifesaver. This week, the first patients will be admitted to the new $9-million unit on the hospital’s second floor, after over a year of construction. The project has been funded entirely by donations from the Lions Gate Hospital Foundation. High acuity units aren’t as well known as intensive care, but represent a middle level of care between what a patient receives in a regular hospital ward and the intensive life-support available in an ICU. It’s for patients who need closer monitoring than they will receive on a standard hospital unit, but “they don’t require life support,” said Corrie Irwin, director for surgical services, ICU and the emergency department at Lions Gate. In some cases, a patient whose condition has deteriorated in hospital might be moved to the unit to be stabilized, Irwin said. In other cases, a patient’s medical Continued on page 42

Corrie Irwin, Lions Gate Hospital’s director for surgical services, ICU and the emergency department, and Judy Savage of the Lions Gate Hospital Foundation look over one of the rooms in the hospital’s new high acuity unit. MIKE WAKEFIELD/NSN

“The really big questions are going to be between those two districts in terms of how they see the future, not only for themselves, but also for their children,” said Andy Yan, director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University. The latest release of data from Statistics Canada show how our populations are aging and how our housing stock is changing. As is often revealed in census data, West Vancouver is an outlier. Those 65 and older in West Vancouver now make up 28.5 per cent of the population, up from 27.8 per cent in 2016. In the Lower Mainland, only White Rock and Belcarra have a larger percentage of seniors. The Metro Vancouver average is now 17 per cent. The average West Vancouverite is 47.6 Continued on page 43

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