Health Authority gets ceremonial key to new surgical centre

KELOWNA – The first three floors of the new Interior Heart and Surgical Centre won’t be open to patients until the fall, but on Friday Plenary Health presented the Interior Health Authority an oversized ceremonial key to signify the end of their construction.

A press release from Plenary Health says 700 Interior Health employees, physicians and volunteers will now start going through building orientation and training. New equipment, computers and furniture will also be installed over the coming months.

Interior Health Authority selected Plenary Health to design, build, finance and maintain the Centre back in 2012 with Plenary Health agreeing to provide facility maintenance service until 2045. 

Kelowna-Lake Country MLA Norm Letnick says the facility includes capacity for a total of 15 operating rooms, including two dedicated cardiac OR’s, where up to 600 open heart procedures will be performed per year.
 
The new IHSC is 152,000 square feet in size and includes a state-of-the-art surgical unit with capacity for 15 operating rooms, 45 private pre-operative patient rooms, a new and expanded sterilization department and a perinatal unit with its own operating room for elective C-sections.

Plenary Health CEO Mike Marasco says the gesture marks an important step in the partnership between his company and the Authority.
 
“It is the end of the first phase of construction, and the beginning of a 30-year journey together, in which this community will receive local access to health care in a state-of-the-art, well-maintained facility, among the best in North America.”