Kitselas First Nation has donated $10,000 to the Dr. R.E.M Lee's Foundation's 'Closer to Home' campaign to support Tier 3 level services in the birthing unit at the new Mills Memorial Hospital.

Check out the local TV station CFTK News coverage of the generous donation.

This is the second major contribution since the campaign launched on June 3, 2023. The first donation was $2 million, the largest in the Foundation's history, from Newcrest Mining, which runs the Brucejack and Red Chris mines in Northwest BC.

The Closer to Home campaign is fundraising to increase the level of neonatal and maternal services from Tier 2 to Tier 3 in the new hospital in Terrace. There is no other facility that offers Tier 3 level services in the Northwest Health Services area.

Currently mothers and infants that need emergent care, must experience often stressful and weather-dependent medical evacuation to either Prince George (Tier 4) or Vancouver (Tier 6.) Having care closer to home means mothers and babies will be surrounded by the people they need and their families less burdened by the financial and emotional costs of travel and long-term stays in unfamiliar settings.

"This type of unit in the Terrace area would greatly benefit the whole region," said Kitselas Elected Chief Glenn Bennett, who is also helping with the fundraising campaign.

For more info about the Closer to Home campaign and the expanded neonatal and maternal services, check out the Closer to Home video and case study.

And a big thanks to Kitselas!

Yes! Parking at the hospital will continue to be free.

In other good news, parking is doubling, increasing from approximately 150 to 300 spots.

Adequate parking for patients, visitors and staff is an issue at the current hospital and an important part of the new build.

A significant number of the parking spots at the new facility will be where the existing hospital now stands. For this reason, parking for the entire project won't be complete until the middle of 2026. It can only be completed after the new hospital is already in operations and the current facility has been removed. Northern Health is working on finding solutions for parking in the interim.

Record breaking temperatures are in the forecast the next week in Terrace. And what accompanies hot weather? Dust!

Similar to previous years during hot and dry months, PCL is taking preventative measures to manage dust on and around the Mills Memorial Hospital construction site.

A water trailer is - and will be - on site at all times throughout the summer. Depending on conditions, the water truck sprays the site and surrounding areas, several times a day, to keep dust settled.

Part of the truck's route is along the road, between the site entrance on Tetrault Street (Gate 1) to the site entrance on Haugland Avenue (Gate 2), near the main entrance of the current hospital.

A hose is also located at each site entrance, and is used, as needed, to hose down vehicle tires. This prevents the tires from gathering and spreading dust into the air.

Stay cool!

Want to know more about the Dr. R.E.M Lee Foundation Closer to Home campaign? And why a Tier 3 level birthing unit at the new hospital in Terrace is so important for mothers, babies and all residents of Northwest BC?

Watch the Closer to Home Video

Read the Closer to Home Case for Support

Join the team at the new hospital

Download the Mills Memorial Hospital Employment flyer.

Job opportunities at the new hospital include

• Care Aide
• Diagnostics Imaging Technologist
• Dietitian
• Facility and Maintenance workers
• Food Services woker
• Health Information Professional
• Housekeeper
• Imaging Technician
• Indigenous Patient Health Assistant
• Licensed Practical Nurse
• Medical Laboratory Clerk & Technologist
• Medical Office Assistant
• Mental Health Clinician & Staff
• Nurse Unit Clerk
• Occupational & Physio Therapist
• Patient Reception Staff
• Pharmacist & Pharmacy Staff
• Physician
• Registered Nurse
• Respiratory Therapist
• Social Worker
• Stores Attendant

In addition to family practitioners contracted to work at the hospital, various specialists will also be needed for the new hospital, such as:

• Orthopedic surgeon
• Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) specialist
• Psychiatrist
• Urologist
• Anesthetist
• Gynecologist
• Pediatrician

Recruitment underway

Recruitment has already begun for new staff and physicians to work at the new hospital. Unfortunately, staffing shortages for medical and support positions are a current reality for all of BC and Canada; there’s simply not enough trained health professionals to fill all the positions and needs. Our aim is to work closely with our partners and be creative in our recruitment efforts.

For more information about staff positions at the new hospital, contact: eva.visscher@northernhealth.ca

For more information about physician and specialist positions, contact: jacquelyn.marko@northernhealth.ca

New facility is appealing to work at

Thankfully, the chance to work at a new facility is a major draw for potential hires. The new hospital will have a variety of amenities, just for staff and physicians working there, such as:

• Wellness and exercise area
• Changerooms, showers and lockers
• Lounge with kitchen, comfortable seating, TVs and work computer stations
• Breastfeeding and pump room
• Secure, outdoor storage locker for bikes
• Staff garden

Coloured panels now cover the outside of the future cancer care clinic, located in the southeast corner of the new hospital's main floor.

The new Mills Memorial Hospital got a colour lift this month when the first brightly coloured exterior panels were installed .

The first of a range of earth- and wood-toned coloured panels were installed on the first floor of the southside of the building, starting June 8, and they give the building that pop of colour we’ve all been waiting for.

The earth and wood tones draw inspiration from the region's rich and earthy natural landscape. The colours also emulate a wood look, symbolizing Northwest BC.

Workers are now moving their way counter-clockwise around the new hospital and will begin installing them on the main floor of the front side of the building, facing Tetrault Street.

Updated Final Design

In the final design of the new hospital, the main floor features a mix of grey, earth and wood tones while the other three floors above ground are a mix of greys and white. The new Seven Sisters will feature similar colours as the main floor of the new hospital, to tie the two buildings together.

Initially, the exterior design presented to staff and community in 2021 primarily featured earth and wood tones. Feedback resulted in a lighter, more neutral look that blends into the Terrace’s mountainous landscape.

High Quality Panelling

The insulated metal panels, which will cover most of the exterior of the new hospital, have many advantages.

• Proven, long-term track record
• Hold up well to outdoor elements (for example, retains colour in long-term exposure to sunlight)
• Work with other energy saving solutions to optimize building energy
• Elegant and smooth finish
• Easily installed

Download a pdf of the June 2023 Quarterly Project Update.

SUPPORT CARE CLOSER TO HOME

$2 million Newcrest donation kicks off REM Lee Foundation’s ‘Closer to Home’ campaign

A huge announcement took place in Terrace this month! On June 3, the Dr. R.E.M Lee Hospital Foundation in Terrace kicked off a major fundraising campaign with the announcement of a $2 million donation (the largest gift in the Foundation’s history!) from Newcrest Mining.

The campaign, titled ‘Closer to Home’, is focused on bringing a higher level of care to mothers and newborns in Northwest BC in the form of a Tier 3 level Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and special care nursery at the new Mills Memorial Hospital (MMH). Currently, MMH's level of neonatal and maternal services is Tier 2 and no facility in Northwest BC offers Tier 3 level services.

"Although not originally a part of the MMH rebuild, this is a once-in-a­generation opportunity" said Foundation Chair Ron Bartlett, a member of the Kitsumkalum nation.

Currently mothers and infants that need emergent care, must experience often stressful and weather-dependent medical evacuation to either Prince George (Tier 4) or Vancouver (Tier 6.) Having care closer to home means mothers and babies will be surrounded by people they need and their families less burdened by the financial and emotional costs of travel and long-term stays in unfamiliar settings.

Dr. Anita Adlam, a pediatrician responsible for acute pediatric care at MMH, said, "If newborns need anything more than rooming in with their mum, we just don't have the capacity to look after them, and we often end up sending patients out to other facilities.”

Big thanks to Newcrest Mining for being the first to contribute to this important project!

Go to remleehospitalfoundation.org or call the Foundation at 250-641-5526 for more info or to donate.

WHERE WE’RE AT

We are celebrating two years of construction!

Only a couple years ago the MMH construction site was an empty lot.

In May 2021, the MMH Construction Site had just been cleared of trees.

In May 2023, the exterior shell of the hospital is mainly complete and most of the work is happening inside the building

Recent construction milestones

• Canopies for the new hospital’s main entrance and emergency entrance on Tetrault Street are in place.
• Inside the new facility, more than 90% of the walls are framed, 65% are drywalled and 60% are taped.
• Millwork has begun.
• Flooring is complete in four departments.
• New Seven Sisters’ building envelope was completed in May 2023 and framing and drywalling has begun inside.

WHERE WE’RE GOING

Reducing environmental impact with LEED Gold

Despite the new hospital being more than double the size of the current building, it will still emit significantly less greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases produced per square foot in the new hospital will be at least 70% less than the current facility. And the total reduction in greenhouse gases, from the current facility to the new one, will be at least 40%.

Our aim is for the new Mills Memorial Hospital and Seven Sisters buildings to be high performance, environmentally responsible buildings that operate efficiently and provide a comfortable indoor environment for the occupants, promoting patient, visitor and staff wellness.

As part of this goal, the new Mills Memorial Hospital Replacement project is working towards, and well on its way, to achieving LEED gold status, the second highest LEED designation possible.

LEED stands for ‘Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design’ and is the most common and widely used green building certification in the world. LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a building project was designed and built, or operated, to achieve high performance in six areas of human and environmental health:

• location & transportation
• sustainable site development
• water savings
• energy efficiency
• materials selection
• indoor environmental quality

From the Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC) website, these six areas are:

“LEED helps owners and developers create high-performing, resilient buildings that reduce carbon emissions, save water, conserve energy and reduce waste. LEED also improves people’s quality of life by delivering the optimal conditions for health, comfort and productivity – such as better quality air and natural light,” according to CAGBC.

LEED requirements have advised many choices in the design of the new hospital and Seven Sisters – for example, lighting, waste management, construction materials, space allocation, number of exits and entrances and bike and electric vehicle stations, and more.

A facility’s power sources and systems are an especially major consideration in LEED. Northern Health analyzed and reviewed various alternatives for electrical and mechanical systems in the new hospital and Seven Sisters. Two major focuses included maximizing energy efficiency and minimizing ongoing costs throughout the lifecycle of the facilities.

The majority of the energy savings in the new Mills Memorial Hospital will come from recycling heat thanks to the new facility’s mechanical systems. Both the new facilities will have highly efficient, low-temperature heating systems. Heating will be primarily based on recovered heat from building exhaust, or simultaneously rejected cooling load. In peak winter conditions, the system will be supplemented with high-efficiency, condensing, gas-fired boilers.

The new facilities will also have a highly efficient cooling system. The system will use magnetic bearing chillers, the most efficient chillers on the market. These are frictionless compressor machines that do not require lubrication (oil); machines that require lubrication tend to degrade more quickly.

LEARN MORE

Go to letstalk.northernhealth.ca/mmh

Let’s Talk MMH is our one-stop shop for everything related to the Mills Memorial Hospital Replacement project. The site has regular project updates, a link to the construction camera and much more. It’s also where you can provide feedback and ask questions about the project.

Check out the construction cameras

Check out what the construction site looks like in real time on our two construction cameras. One camera is aimed at the new Mills Memorial Hospital and the other shows the new Seven Sisters site. The link to the cameras is on Let’s Talk MMH. You can download photos, videos an do all kinds of other cool stuff.

Email us at letstalkMMH@northernhealth.ca

Send us an email if you’ve got questions or feedback, or if want to receive email updates like this.

Only a couple years ago the MMH construction site was an empty lot. See the images below comparing the site now to two years ago.

And now we are celebrating the following milestones!

• Canopies for the new hospital’s main entrance and emergency entrance on Tetrault Street are in place.
• Inside the new facility, more than 90% of the walls are framed, 65% are drywalled and 60% are taped.
• Millwork has begun.
• Flooring is complete in four departments.
• New Seven Sisters’ building envelope was completed in May 2023 and framing and drywalling has begun inside.

In May 2021, the MMH Construction Site had just been cleared of trees.

In May 2023, the exterior shell of the hospital is mainly complete and most of the work is happening inside the building

Despite the new hospital being more than double the size of the current building, it will still emit significantly less greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases produced per square foot in the new hospital will be at least 70% less than the current facility. And the total reduction in greenhouse gases, from the current facility to the new one, will be at least 40%.

Our aim is for the new Mills Memorial Hospital and Seven Sisters buildings to be high performance, environmentally responsible buildings that operate efficiently and provide a comfortable indoor environment for the occupants, promoting patient, visitor and staff wellness.

As part of this goal, the new Mills Memorial Hospital Replacement project is working towards, and well on its way, to achieving LEED gold status, the second highest LEED designation possible.

LEED stands for ‘Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design’ and is the most common and widely used green building certification in the world. LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a building project was designed and built, or operated, to achieve high performance in six areas of human and environmental health. From the Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC) website, these six areas are:

• location & transportation
• sustainable site development
• water savings
• energy efficiency
• materials selection
• indoor environmental quality

“LEED helps owners and developers create high-performing, resilient buildings that reduce carbon emissions, save water, conserve energy and reduce waste. LEED also improves people’s quality of life by delivering the optimal conditions for health, comfort and productivity – such as better quality air and natural light,” according to CAGBC.

LEED requirements have advised many choices in the design of the new hospital and Seven Sisters – for example, lighting, waste management, construction materials, space allocation, number of exits and entrances and bike and electric vehicle stations, and more.

A facility’s power sources and systems are an especially major consideration in LEED. Northern Health analyzed and reviewed various alternatives for electrical and mechanical systems in the new hospital and Seven Sisters. Two major focuses included maximizing energy efficiency and minimizing ongoing costs throughout the lifecycle of the facilities.

The majority of the energy savings in the new Mills Memorial Hospital will come from recycling heat thanks to the new facility’s mechanical systems. Both the new facilities will have highly efficient, low-temperature heating systems. Heating will be primarily based on recovered heat from building exhaust, or simultaneously rejected cooling load. In peak winter conditions, the system will be supplemented with high-efficiency, condensing, gas-fired boilers.

The new facilities will also have a highly efficient cooling system. The system will use magnetic bearing chillers, the most efficient chillers on the market. These are frictionless compressor machines that do not require lubrication (oil); machines that require lubrication tend to degrade more quickly.

On June 3, the Dr. R.E.M. Lee Hospital foundation announced the largest fundraising campaign in its history to create a crucially needed Tier 3 level Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and Special Care Nursery at the new hospital in Terrace.

The need for such a facility is vitally important: over the last four years, 104 mothers with complicated or pre-term births were transferred from Mills Memorial Hospital (MMH) to facilities capable of a higher level of care. Sixty infants and their mothers made often hazardous journeys to other hospitals-with two-thirds of them leaving the region.

"Although not originally a part of the MMH rebuild, this is a once-in-a ­generation opportunity" said Foundation Chair Ron Bartlett, a member of the Kitsumkalum nation.

Dr. Anita Adlam, a pediatrician responsible for acute pediatric care at MMH, concurred, "If newborns need anything more than rooming in with their mum, we just don't have the capacity to look after them, and we often end up sending patients out to other facilities."

Currently mothers and infants that need emergent care, must experience often stressful and weather-dependent medical evacuation to either Prince George (Tier 4) or Vancouver (Tier 6.) Having care closer to home means mothers and babies will be surrounded by the people they need and their families less burdened by the financial and emotional costs of travel and long-term stays in unfamiliar settings.

MMH's level of neonatal and maternal services will increase from Tier 2 to Tier 3. There is no other facility that offers Tier 3 level services in the Northwest Health Services area.

"This project is an investment in Northwest B.C. families, the future of our First Nations communities and our young workers," said Bartlett. "Our fund raising committee members are committed, with your help, to achieving this vitally important goal."

Donate today!

Donations to the Dr. R.E.M. Lee Hospital Foundation in support of this project can be made by calling (250) 641-5526 or online at remleehospitalfoundation.org

Donations are tax-deductible, Charitable Registration Number 11923 0399 RR0001

The Dr. R.E.M. Lee Hospital Foundation, a volunteer charitable organization, was created in 1988 to raise funds in support of Mills Memorial Hospital and Terraceview Lodge. Our mandate is to increase and improve the provision of medical care to those who live in the area of Terrace, British Columbia, whether through direct medical services and facilities or medical and educational research which enhances those services and facilities.

Dr. REM Lee Foundation, Northern Health and Newcrest Mining representatives celebrate 'Closer to Home' campaign launch on June 3, 2023 at the Kitsumkalum Health Walk.