St. Paul's Hospital is closing its doors and relocating

[6o4__boi]

St Paul's Hospital to close, new facility built - British Columbia - CBC News

I'm not sure how i feel about this. It does make sense to a certain extent because I figured slowly upgrading it would be costly and would be a pain in the ass. Interesting to see how this will unfold over the next little while and how it'll change the dynamics of health care in the downtown core and where its relocating to.

[melloman]

Best part about this whole thing is; their main corridor to downtown is the viaducts..

The one thing mayor moonbeam is trying so hard to demolish, leaving this hospital with drastically longer response times.

[murd0c]

The site is big time haunted, my sister is a nurse at St Pauls and there's certain area's she will not go at night at all.

I think its sad especially since its over 100 years old but in the long run I think its better off building a new hospital rather then dealing with so many unknown's with fixing St Pauls.

[604STIG]

They'll be able to pay for most of the new facility with the property sale of the existing location i'm sure. But taxes will still go up to pay for it, gotta line somebodies pockets with the revenues I guess.

[6o4__boi]

The price tag of the new facility is estimated at $1.2 Billion


I can't rmbr how much the original quote was when they said they'd do renos.
Wouldn't be surprised if it was haunted...it's gotta have some history. Heck, it'd be safe to assume all hospitals are haunted. I've always been uneasy in hospitals.

[Habboy]

I was born there!! I know times have changed, but, a little sad its gonna be gone

[westopher]

St. Pauls is so run down I don't see any other options. There is no way that they can renovate and rebuild St. Pauls, while maintaining necessary capacity. I think this is a good choice, although as said the fact there are no hospitals DT is concerning.

[IMASA]

I worked at SPH for 6 years and we've heard about this for a long time. Now it's finally official. I think they recently spent 10-20 million on renovating the Emergency dept.

[capt_slo]

Originally Posted by 604STIG

They'll be able to pay for most of the new facility with the property sale of the existing location i'm sure. But taxes will still go up to pay for it, gotta line somebodies pockets with the revenues I guess.

Apparently they're expecting something in the range of $480M from the old property sale.

The current building requires $850M in work for seismic upgrades and major electrical & mechanical system overhauls/modernizations. The Gov. said they'd pay $500 million but the hospital has had a lot of trouble raising their $350M portion.

[Hondaracer]

I was born der, and homie I'll die der

[Traum]

For better or for worse, I have been to St. Paul many, many times, and news of the relocation is giving me a lot of mixed feelings.

I completely understand the need for the relocation, but I can't tell what kind of impact it will create for the DT core. In some ways, I see a lot of benefits in having a hospital right there in the heart of DT, esp when our DT is as residential as it is.

[westopher]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

I was born der, and homie I'll die der

Planning on living only 7 more years?

[carisear]

I've been wondering if this would ever happen. I remember hearing about it like 10 years ago, and thinking AWESOME. St. Pauls is a dump, and should be torn down. Where would you rather get treated if you were sick -- a 100 year old building that has been patched up over the years, or a new state of the art place?

I didn't think it would ever happen, with all of the activists, protestors, heritage housing, west end associations ... etc etc etc ... saying that it should stay.

[quasi]

They have spent quite a bit on Hospitals in the last little bit not that they didn't them. I wonder when this is coming out for tender, I heart bidding Hospitals.

[underscore]

Originally Posted by westopher

St. Pauls is so run down I don't see any other options. There is no way that they can renovate and rebuild St. Pauls, while maintaining necessary capacity. I think this is a good choice, although as said the fact there are no hospitals DT is concerning.

They've been doing a lot of work to KGH the last while and from the few times I've been in there during the work it seemed to cause a lot of headache for anyone working or visiting the hospital in the affected areas. A completely new building will be loads better overall IMO.

[GLOW]

Originally Posted by melloman

Best part about this whole thing is; their main corridor to downtown is the viaducts..

The one thing mayor moonbeam is trying so hard to demolish, leaving this hospital with drastically longer response times.

it's ok. they'll create ambulance bikes to use bike lanes.

[Traum]

Originally Posted by Traum

I completely understand the need for the relocation, but I can't tell what kind of impact it will create for the DT core. In some ways, I see a lot of benefits in having a hospital right there in the heart of DT, esp when our DT is as residential as it is.

Actually, now that I think about it, it strikes me as odd that the provincial government is proposing a move for St Paul. Why does it have to be a move? Why can't the new hospital be constructed at the proposed site at False Creek and have the heavy duty, new resource intensive care transferred over to False Creek, while the current St. Paul continues with simple upkeep and remain open to look after the easier stuff? This way, residents of the DT core can continue to receive medical care. Having a new hospital should not be associated with demolishing St. Paul.

At the end of the day, it seems to me that if the provincial government is willing to fund this, it will happen.

[6o4__boi]

Spoiler!

Originally Posted by GLOW

it's ok. they'll create ambulance bikes to use bike lanes.

[spoon.ek9]

I worked at St Paul's for almost 5 years. Logistically, this is not a good move. Response times will suffer, translating to worse treatment than before (depending on the situation of course). Sure, the place is super old but it was functional none the less and the staff from top to bottom have done the best they can given the circumstances.

Also, keep in mind there are tons of hospitals that are more "ghetto" than this. Funding is always an issue and even when the money shows up, it doesn't mean they are spending it where it SHOULD be spent. Politics plays a big part in this even though it shouldn't.

At the end of the day, if the hospital saves your life or that of someone you care about, do you really care how the place physically looks? I know what my answer is.

[westopher]

My wife works at St. Pauls and I assure it has nothing to do with LOOKING ghetto. The place is a shithole, which will crumble like ned flanders' bomb shelter at the slightest seismic activity. Its not going to last, and their hands I'm sure are somewhat tied. However I agree that as stated before, the by far ideal situation would be to spend half the money on building a new hospital, and also refurbish St. Pauls to modern code when that can start taking patients. We can't afford to maintain the status quo when it comes to medical care in Vancouver. They are spouting off about how badly we need more busses with our growing population, but not much mention about how people can wait 5+ hours in a waiting room for serious issues.

[spoon.ek9]

I think everyone agrees that seismic stability of the building is nowhere near current standards. I too agree that they should spend some of this money on restructuring the building for continued service.

[The_AK]

Originally Posted by murd0c

The site is big time haunted, my sister is a nurse at St Pauls and there's certain area's she will not go at night at all.

I think its sad especially since its over 100 years old but in the long run I think its better off building a new hospital rather then dealing with so many unknown's with fixing St Pauls.

Go on. I'm interested.

[Traum]

Originally Posted by westopher

My wife works at St. Pauls and I assure it has nothing to do with LOOKING ghetto. The place is a shithole, which will crumble like ned flanders' bomb shelter at the slightest seismic activity.

Right, I forgot about the need for seismic upgrades. This was cited to be the reason why building new is cheaper than retrofitting, and I'd have to agree. But it doesn't change the fact that those in the DT core will be more poorly served as a result of the St. Paul relocation.

Given the various wait times for different medical procedures in Greater Vancouver, I have little doubt that our population could fully utilize both a hospital at the current St. Paul location, and a new one at the proposed False Creek site. IMO, all it needs is the political willingness for the provincial government to support it and go through with it.

[6o4__boi]

they're banking on most of downtown being ghost condos/investment condos in the future



yeah that'd be a pretty good idea to utilize both locations. Too bad political willingness will be pretty hard to muster.

[twitchyzero]

srs question...are there physical dividers inside the Viaduct bike lanes or can emerg vehicles squeeze into them? It's been months since I drove DT so I can't recall.
Not sure if feasible but they should retain a satellite emerg department within the DT core when this new one goes up.