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FAQ: How has community feedback inspired design?
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Community engagement has been a crucial part of the hospital replacement project since day one. Through online engagement, in-person events, and working groups, we gathered community input to ensure the new space would be welcoming and culturally safe for all.
We are so grateful for the feedback we’ve received along the way, and it has shaped how the hospital has been built.
When we asked what would make the hospital culturally safe, you said:
- Representation of the seasons of the year, keeping with Dakelh culture and worldview
- Representation of nature, since it’s healing and welcoming to all cultures
- Windows to the outside to provide natural light and views to the sky, lake, and trees
- Room to come together to drink, eat, celebrate, and grieve as a community
- Fire is important
- Circles on ceiling (representing drums) in spiritual spaces
So, what does that look like in practice?
Representation of the seasons and nature
The final colour palette for the facility showcases the beauty of Fort St. James’ transitioning seasons to identify different areas of the hospital. The hospital features two colour schemes inspired by warmth and frost. Visit our FAQ about the colour palette to learn more.
Other than bringing nature-inspired colours and finishes into the facility, the most exciting way we’re showcasing the natural beauty of Fort St James is by letting it speak for itself…
Windows and natural light
…and the best way to do that? Big, beautiful windows throughout the facility!
Natural light is a priority in the new build, so you’ll notice large windows with picturesque views throughout each department. Virtually all the windows in the new hospital feature views of the mountains, the lake, the forest, or gardens.
Pictured left to right: Hallway in Long Term Care, a window in Primary Care, the front entrance of the hospital, and a patient room in Long Term Care Room to come together to celebrate and to grieve as a community (fire is important)
Bringing loved ones together is important, so we’ve ensured there’s lots of room to do so in the new hospital and health centre.
A Gathering Space has been created with tables and chairs to gather for meals, card games, or other activities – all built around a standalone fireplace.
In Long Term Care, there is a relaxing lounge in the common area for residents and family to visit each other, featuring a built-in fireplace.
Pictured left to right: Rendering of the Gathering Space, April progress photo of the Gathering Space, Rendering of the common lounge area in Long Term Care A palliative care suite has been developed that has two separate spaces: one large room for patient care, and another adjoining room where family can stay with a kitchenette. The palliative suite opens onto the Healing Garden where culturally important plants and trees will grow. The doors in the palliative care suite are wide enough that a bed can be wheeled all the way out to enjoy the garden.
Pictured left to right: Family room in palliative care with adjoining patient room, Rendering of the Healing GardenWe understand how hard it can be when a loved one passes on. In the morgue, there is a quiet room where families can gather and take as much time as needed, surrounded by art.
Circles on ceiling and smudging in spiritual spaces
The Spiritual Space is available to all who visit the hospital, and the design has been heavily influenced by the feedback we received. In addition to a large window looking out to gardens, the space features circle shapes on the ceiling and has been constructed to accommodate smudging.
Rather than only adding the circle shapes in the Spiritual Space, lighting resembling drums has been added throughout the facility – especially in Long Term Care.
Pictured left to right: Rendering of the Spiritual Space, April progress photo of the Spiritual Space, Rendering of Long Term Care dining areaThank you to everyone who has shared their input on the hospital replacement project so far! Soon, we will begin the process to select art for the facility. If you are interested in joining our art committee, please reach out to letstalkSLH@northernhealth.ca.
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May Engagement Update
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Christine (our Communications & Community Engagement Liaison) has had a busy month getting out into the community and sharing updates on the new hospital build. Here are some highlights from May:
Northern Health Leadership Forum
To kick off the month, our team had the opportunity to showcase the Stuart Lake Hospital Replacement Project alongside the Mills Memorial Hospital and Dawson Creek & District Hospital replacement projects at the annual Northern Health Spring Leadership Forum in Prince George.
This year’s forum welcomed more than 100 leaders from across the region for two days of education, collaboration, and networking. In addition to the daily speakers and breakout sessions, the leaders explored 50+ demo pods centered around Digital Health, SaferCare, and HealthSpaces.
Our new build project booths, located in the HealthSpaces area, featured:
- Exciting information about the projects
- Draft renderings of the new facilities
- Construction progress photos and video walk-throughs
- Construction time lapse videos
- Swag and giveaways
- And two 3D printed cranes!
Left: Communications & Community Engagement Liaisons Christine Midgley (Stuart Lake Hospital), Ashley Pannozzo (Dawson Creek & District Hospital), and Sarah Artis (Mills Memorial Hospital) get ready to greet conference-goers. Middle: A 3D-printed replica of the crane at the Dawson Creek site. Right: Christine showcases the progress on the new Stuart Lake Hospital. Healthcare Travelling Roadshow
While the UNBC Healthcare Travelling Roadshow (coordinated by the Northern Medical Program) visited Fort St. James, we took the opportunity to take the future doctors on a virtual tour of the new Stuart Lake Hospital! The Nechako portion of the roadshow (Vanderhoof, Fort St. James, Hazelton, Dease Lake, Stewart) made a pit stop at Fort St. James Secondary school to present to students on May 13th.
Each spring, post-secondary medical students from across the province hit the road to visit schools in Northern BC, inspiring high school students to consider health care as a future career. After an exciting morning of facilitating hands-on demonstrations to the high schoolers, the roadshow crew was ready for the lunch spread organized by the Primary Care Society.
Over lunch, we shared the construction time lapse of the new hospital build, renderings of the facility, interior progress photos, and had conversations about the community engagement we’ve done to ensure culturally-safe care.
Several of the future physicians expressed interest in returning to visit the hospital when it’s finished, so we look forward to hosting them again!
Future physicians from the Healthcare Travelling Roadshow lead hands-on learning at Fort St. James Secondary School. Seniors Association Potluck
We’d heard rave reviews about the Stuart Lake Seniors Association potlucks in the past, so we were excited to get an invitation this month! After the most incredible spread of home-cooked food and fantastic company, we can see why it’s the hot event in town.
Christine walked the attendees through a virtual hospital tour, showcasing construction progress, renderings, and additional information on what to expect with the upcoming naming and art selection working groups.
Thank you to Lynn Dunkley for the invitation, and to the entire Seniors Association for being fantastic hosts.
Our Northern Health bear is set up and ready for a potluck party!If your group/organization would like members of our team to share a presentation with your team or to set up an information booth at an event, please reach out to letstalkSLH@northernhealth.ca
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Career Fair Recap
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It was fantastic seeing so many people come out for this week's career fair at Kwah Hall! Our team had a great time connecting with the community and offering a sneak peek at the new hospital build. Thank you to the Nak'azdli Whut'en for having us.
If you couldn't make it out to the career fair, don't worry! Since the new Stuart Lake Hospital is set to open early next year, we will be hiring many positions over the coming months. Health care and support services jobs will include:
- Housekeeper
- Cook
- Food Services Worker
- Facility Maintenance
- Maintenance Worker
- Registration Clerk
- Imaging Tech
- Medical Lab Technologist
- Lab Clerk
- Care Aid
- Licensed Practical Nurse
- Registered Nurse
Opportunities for employment will also exist in the Primary Care Clinic which will be housed in the new hospital:
- Primary Care Assistant
- Medical Office Assistant
- Community Health Worker
- Rehabilitation Assistant
- Mental Health Clinician
- Social Worker
- Occupational Therapist
- Physical Therapist
- Nurse Practitioner
- Physicians
If you'd like more information about these positions or know someone that would be a good fit, connect with our recruitment team at recruitmentsupport@northernhealth.ca
Keep an eye out for us at future events! -
Hospital Highlight: A Sign of Appreciation
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Building a hospital is a community endeavour, and in the case of the Stuart Lake Hospital Replacement Project, it's been one many community organizations and individuals have worked toward for years.
Recently Northern Health created a sign to acknowledge community partners and installed it at the hospital site. It's a small gesture to say thank you for the support and efforts of our partners, but it represents enormous appreciation.
We are so grateful for the hard work of the community - all of those who worked to get the project off the ground during the planning phases, and all those who continue to work with us on the project to this day - your support is vital to the project and will impact health care in the Stuart Lake area for years to come.
We thank you, even more than a sign can say.
Signs in place in front of the Stuart Lake Hospital on a sunny December day. Thanks to Greg Marr, SOO NI Rural, for the photo -
Relationships and Reconciliation
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On the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, as it is every day, it’s important for us at Northern Health to reflect on our values of empathy, respect, collaboration and innovation in the context of cultural safety, and to check in with ourselves that we’re truly acting on reconciliation.
For NH Capital Projects, including the Stuart Lake Hospital (SLH) replacement project, this means developing a Capital Advisory Committee (CAC) early in the project that includes representatives from local First Nations. Members of all five First Nations local to Fort St. James have influenced the project from the beginning.
To support the work of the CAC, special working groups are struck as the project progresses. Like the Mills Memorial Hospital (MMH) project’s Indigenous Advisory Working Group, the SLH project is supported by a Cultural Safety Advisory Working Group (CSWG), which ensures awareness and understanding of cultural safety for Indigenous people in a healthcare setting, and addresses design and cultural practices that should be taken into account in a new hospital build.
The CSWG has created space for conversations that are far-reaching, enlightening, and meaningful for those involved. They have been particularly educational for the SLH project team. Stories shared with us by Indigenous partners in Takla, Yekooche, Tl’azt’en, Binche and Nak’azdli have broadened our understanding of issues facing Indigenous people seeking health care in Northern BC. The stories and ideas shared with us remain the property of the people who share them, but their influence on the new hospital in Fort St. James is clear; conversations around cultural safety, cultural practices, and ceremony have resulted in a larger Palliative Care Room with access to the outdoors, and the ability to smudge in both the Palliative Care Room and the Spiritual Space. Enabling the barrier-free ability to practice culture and tradition in our new capital builds at Northern Health is critical.
Committees and working groups are some of the tools we use to connect with the communities we serve, however, developing real relationships is the only way to make sure health care needs are safely and appropriately met. Often, reconciliation stops after acknowledgement, and while acknowledgment is essential for moving forward, action is vital to the process of building relationships. For this project, we have partnered with Nak’azdli Band Members for a ground blessing ceremony prior to construction starting at the site, and we have been privileged to attend community events such as National Indigenous Peoples Day at Kwah Hall in Nak’azdli, and to take part in health fairs in Yekooche and Takla. These are opportunities to meet with the communities and hear concerns, ideas and personal experiences of health care face to face. We are grateful for these opportunities and don’t take our inclusion lightly.
Northern Health is committing to actions to improve the care we provide. Conversations are on-going in the community and at the Cultural Safety Working Group Table. Health care is a partnership, and your feedback is always welcome. Stay in touch with us here and in person. We look forward to sharing progress on this and other Capital Projects on our Let’s Talk pages, in the media, and maybe over a cup of tea.
Note: The graphic was specially designed by Gitxsan artist Cori Johnson for Northern Health to recognize National Truth and Reconciliation/Orange shirt day. Read more about the graphic and the artist here: https://stories.northernhealth.ca/stories/ndtr-ms-teams-background-staff
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Yekooche Health Fair
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The 20th of September was a great day for a drive up to Yekooche! Thanks to an early start and no hauling that day, I startled many grouse off the road and wasn't startled myself by any big trucks. I was early for the health fair, set up quickly, and helped others bring in their door prizes. I also sneaked out for a photo or two of the beautiful school and the bright fall morning.
It was a pleasure to talk to so many people about the new hospital in Fort St. James! Everyone was happy to hear that construction is well underway, but we were even happier to get more input from the community on what will make a safe and welcoming hospital for all. Over the course of the project, in meetings with the Cultural Safety Working Group which includes members from Yekooche, Takla, Tl'azt'en, Binche and Nak'azdli as well as Indigenous Health, and while connecting with people in community we have heard and incorporated many ideas that will make the new Stuart Lake Hospital a comfortable and comforting place for patients and people visiting the hospital.
It was fantastic to reconnect with community members who have contributed already, and to make new connections and hear new ideas. We're so grateful for the input and the result of all these conversations will be a hospital that is a reflection of all the communities it serves.
A huge thank you to Yekooche and to Krista Janssen for having us at the health fair, and an even bigger thank you to all the community members who took time to chat with me and give us their feedback. Please remember that feedback is always welcome! You can contact us here at LetsTalkSLH@northernhealth.ca or you can find us in the community. Takla health fair is next!
Thanks for a great day, Yekooche!
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A Blessing for the Land
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On Friday, May 27, 2022, in pouring rain, a small ceremony was held on the grounds of the Stuart Lake Hospital. Led by Jolene Prince of Nak’azdli Whut'en, the ceremony blessed the ground, the current and future hospital buildings, the health of those who contribute to health care in the community and those who seek healing at the Stuart Lake Hospital.
A small group representing partner Indigenous Nations, Northern Health staff and leaders, physicians, and groups who contributed to the planning and building of the new hospital assembled for the blessing. Prayers and hopes for the new hospital, for its staff, physicians, and patients were spoken by all, and appreciation for the collaboration and hard work required to organize and build the hospital were expressed.
This quiet occasion acknowledged the hard work of community and partners over many years to bring this project to the threshold of construction. Many more opportunities to connect and celebrate lie in the future.
Keep track of updates to the hospital replacement project here, at Let’s Talk, and on Facebook. Reach out with questions to LetsTalkSLH@northernhealth.ca. Stay in touch and stay tuned for milestones to celebrate and opportunities to connect.
Wilf Adam, Northern Health Board Member, joins Jolene Prince in prayers for a culturally safe and healthy hospital
Elders from Nak'azdli, Tl'azt'en and Binche Nation came together with community members and NH staff for the ground blessing ceremony
Betsy Dennis of Binche 
Greg Marr, SOO Northern Interior Rural and Co-Chair of the Stuart Lake Hospital Replacement Project, and Binche Health Director Carrie Nash
Primary Care Society Chair Ann McCormick drumming
Councillor Dr. Paul Stent has worked in health care in Fort St. James since 1988 
Doreen Austin from Tl'azt'en honoured the ceremony with song -
Stuart Lake Hospital Showcased in Recruitment Video
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Early in the morning on February 24, 2022, the 6ix Sigma film crew arrived at the Stuart Lake Hospital ready to meet the staff and start filming. The photographer roamed the hospital snapping pictures and getting to know hospital staff in the lab, radiology, and throughout the hospital, while the film crew followed Tiwi Mukubvu as she went about her day at work.
Tiwi moved from Toronto to Fort St James as a new grad. Her enjoyment of her chosen home is clear. In the video she is seen at work with her colleagues at Stuart Lake hospital, at Murray Ridge Ski Hill, where her friend and fellow nurse Sarah Grill coaches her down the slopes, and as she and her daughter stroll along the frozen shore of Stone’s Bay on Stuart Lake, or Nakal Bun in Dakelh, where food gathering and recreation have been mainstays of humans for thousands of years.
6ix Sigma brings her story as a second generation nurse and a Northern BC transplant to life, showcasing the care with which she and her colleagues tend to their patients. “We all work together,” Tiwi says. “It’s all hands on deck – someone is the right hand and someone is the left hand and we just work well together.”
Tiwi Mukubvu at work
Nurses on skis at Murray RidgeTiwi’s passion for her job and the community are a highlight of the video. Having learned to embrace the winter, she has no regrets about moving to Fort St James. The smile we see on her face as she as she and her daughter ramble the snowy shore doesn’t waiver. The video captures the winter beauty of Fort St James and showcases the outdoor opportunities adventure-seekers and nature-lovers enjoy when they’re off work.
Tiwi is one individual among many who have chosen to move to Fort St James for work, and her hunch about the Stuart Lake Hospital was right: she’s found friends among her colleagues who all share her anticipation for the new hospital. “All our staff here are excited about it,” she says, “I think nothing beats working in a new facility.”
Currently, Stuart Lake Hospital has 13 beds. The new hospital will more than double that number, and with an increase to the services offered, more staff are needed to fill nursing, physician, lab, and diagnostic imaging positions.
6ix Sigma’s work, and the enthusiastic participation of the hospital staff in its creation, have resulted in a captivating video that prospective healthcare workers won’t be able to resist – the camaraderie and support of staff for one another and their commitment to their hospital and its patients are clearly on display.
Adding to the puzzle library in long term careStay tuned to Let’s Talk to view the video on its release.
