Dauphin’s new $23-M ER officially opens

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This article was published 16/11/2019 (2386 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dauphin-area residents seeking emergency medical help now have a big, new emergency department in which to be treated.

The official opening of the $23-million emergency department at Dauphin Regional Health Centre was held Friday with various dignitaries in attendance, including Central Services Minister Reg Helwer and Dauphin MLA Brad Michaleski.

Patients started using the new emergency department in July, using the centre’s old entrance while work continued on a new main entry for the facility that includes a driveway. The new entrance will open Monday.

“This new emergency department is three times larger than the previous space and is improving patient flow while helping staff do their work more efficiently,” Health, Seniors and Active Living Minister Cameron Friesen said Friday in a news release.

The original emergency department was built in 1985 and was last updated in 2001.

Work began in early 2017 to develop the 16,000-sqare-foot emergency department in multiple phases. In the first phase of the project, the health centre’s existing emergency department was temporarily relocated within the building to allow for major renovations.

The redeveloped and expanded space includes:

• an updated resuscitation/trauma care room;

• enhanced treatment, exam and observation rooms, which will increase efficiency in patient flow and work flow within the emergency department;

• a decontamination room;

• a special-care unit for extended emergency care of patients;

• support space;

• a new pedestrian access ramp at the back entrance of the facility; and

• an enclosed ambulance garage, which allows patients to be moved directly from an ambulance into the emergency department without going outside or through public waiting areas.

“Dauphin Regional Health Centre is the second-largest hospital within our health region, and with the redevelopment complete, Prairie Mountain Health has provided for a modernized, quality space for our patients and health-care staff,” Prairie Mountain Health CEO Penny Gilson said in the news release.

“This new space improves patient flow and patient access, and many security upgrades also provide a safer environment for everybody.”

The increased space and redesigned physical layout incorporates several recommendations from the Brian Sinclair inquest report, including improving patient access to triage and providing direct access and visibility to the waiting room for triage nurses responsible for monitoring patients.

“This new site will make a real difference for people in the community and surrounding area,” said Central Services Minister Reg Helwer. “I’m pleased to note the investments that our government is making will ensure people across rural Manitoba have access to quality health-care services.”

A new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner was installed in the health centre last December.

» The Brandon Sun