September 20, 2019

Children’s hospital move-in day ready for Sept 29

Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) staff and physicians are preparing for the move of patients on Sunday, September 29 to the new Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital (JPCH), as scheduled. All pediatric, maternal and children’s emergency services remain inside the Royal University Hospital (RUH) until that date.

 

“When we open, Saskatchewan children, youth and pregnant women will have access to safer, higher quality care because of the hard work of the clinical and operational staff and physicians who have helped make this new maternal and children’s hospital a reality,” said Corey Miller, SHA’s Vice President of Provincial Programs. “While there is a significant amount of work to ensure we can safely move some of our smallest, sickest patients into this state-of-the-art facility, we are ready to do that on September 29 as planned.”

 

For more than two years, hundreds of SHA clinical leaders and staff have working through a review process of the new space. As well, clinical teams have also been training in their new areas since the SHA received ownership of the new building this spring,. This has included rehearsing scenarios, and refining processes and procedures. These activities have been designed to ensure the space at JPCH provides an optimal care environment.

 

“The past months have been critical in giving us the time to make improvements in advance of opening,” said Dr. Ron Siemens, SHA and College of Medicine’s provincial head of pediatrics, and pediatric emergency physician. “Now, as we get ready to actually move, we are asking for the public’s help in giving us the privacy we need on September 29 to safely transport our patients between the two hospitals. For those who will be in the hospital, we will be asking families to consider having only one or two support people present, if that is possible, during the move to minimize distractions.”

 

As of 6 a.m. on September 29, pregnant women who go into labour or require urgent pregnancy-related care should come to Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital and go to the third floor. There is a drop-off zone in front of the main doors on the top deck of the parkade.

 

“We appreciate everyone’s support and are looking forward to providing safe care in this new hospital,” said Dr. Siemens. “It has been a tremendous amount of work to get us to this point where we are ready to open the doors.”

 

Children’s emergency services will be opened at the new hospital as of 6 a.m. September 29, but not all patients in the current emergency areas at RUH will be moved; that will be a decision for each individual patient’s care team. All remaining patient care areas will be moved during the morning of September 29, and will continue throughout the day.

 

“Moving critical care, emergency and other hospital services is a very complex process,’ said Miller. “We need everyone involved in this move to be focused on our patients, and we will be supporting our teams in doing what is best to maintain safe care. Thank you to everyone for their understanding, and for the public’s co-operation, during what will be a busy and important day for our patients and our teams.”

 

Updates on the move and additional information can be found on the Saskatchewan Health Authority website at saskhealthauthority.ca. For families wanting information about the location of their loved one on September 29 can call 306.655.1000.

 

The SHA is also reminding the public and patient visitors that touring care areas before or after opening is not allowed in order to maintain clean and safe patient care areas and protect patient privacy. Those interested in seeing what the new hospital looks like are encouraged to watch a tour video created by Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Foundation at pattisonchildrens.ca/JPCHvideotour.