For hundreds of patients who need specialized care at Royal Columbian Hospital every year, a new treatment centre will mean less invasive methods for treating neurological, cardiac and vascular conditions.
Patients, health care professionals and members of the community celebrated the official opening of the new Multipurpose Interventional Suite at the hospital on Oct. 23.
The $5 million suite is a specialized clinical procedure room where medical professionals use state-of-the-art technology to treat patients using "biplane" imaging, which gives them two views of a patient simultaneously.
This, as well as specialized software that gives three-dimensional images of the body and vessels, affords more accurate diagnoses and treatment of numerous conditions.
The provincial government funded half the cost to build and equip the suite and will provide $1.04 million in operating costs annually through the Provincial Health Services Authority for additional cardiac procedures.
Further funding came from the Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation's two-year "Room With a View to the Future" campaign.
Donors who contributed to the campaign were recognized for their contributions at the opening ceremony.
"Cardiac, stroke and aneurysm patients are going to get the specialized care they need closer to home thanks to the generosity of individual, corporate and community donors in partnership with Fraser Health," said Adrienne Bakker, president and CEO of the Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation, in a recent release. "This partnership and the opening of the new suite demonstrates the power of donors to advance health care."
