Photos of the new facility: https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/OgLWlbGZv0
B-roll of the new facility: https://youtu.be/-DJf6bc12QY
VANCOUVER - Children and youth from across BC who need specialized acute rehabilitation and developmental assessments now have a state-of-the-art facility at the new Sunny Hill Health Centre at BC Children's Hospital, which opens to patients this week.
Sunny Hill Health Centre has been providing specialized development and rehabilitation care for children and youth from across BC since 1961 in East Vancouver. Development and rehabilitation programs completed a move from Sunny Hill's previous location to the state-of-the-art facility at BC Children's Hospital on Oak Street August 30.
"The new Sunny Hill Health Centre will offer cutting-edge care at BC Children's Hospital," said Adrian Dix, Minister of Health. "Sunny Hill, along with our government's plans to build a new children's complex care facility in East Vancouver, shows our commitment to helping kids and their families get the best care possible."
The new Sunny Hill Health Centre at BC Children's Hospital, a joint initiative of the Province of British Columbia and the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), is an innovative, family-centred facility that will continue to provide specialized developmental assessments and rehabilitation care to children, youth and their families from across B.C.
The new facility is part of the third and final phase of the $676-million BC Children's and BC Women's Redevelopment Project which also included construction of the Teck Acute Care Centre and BC Women's Urgent Care Centre.
The state-of-the-art space offers unique benefits and amenities to enhance care for children and their families. Benefits include:
- State-of-the-art equipment and technology, including an accessible therapy pool with movable floors; an open-concept gym with innovative therapy solutions, such as the Bioness vector gait system for early and safe rehabilitation for patients and staff; an interactive therapy garden; and a high-tech motion analysis lab
- Families of Sunny Hill patients will no longer spend time travelling between East Vancouver and BC Children's Hospital for medical and diagnostic appointments
- Increased collaboration and coordination with other BC Children's services and clinical teams, streamlining the patient experience.
- Purpose-built clinical spaces specifically designed to accommodate the needs of children and youth who have hearing, visual and varied sensory abilities
- Family lounges, given patient appointments at Sunny Hill can often take several hours
Through donor support, additional funding was provided through BC Children's Hospital Foundation's Sunny Hill Enhancement Initiative that surpassed a fundraising goal of $14 million to help create a facility that is custom-built for the distinct needs of Sunny Hill's patients and families. This initiative raised funds to help create a healing, welcoming environment at the new location through highly innovative technology, advanced purpose-built spaces, and specialized equipment. In addition, curated artwork from twenty-eight Canadian artists and five iconic community partners helps support the therapeutic needs of each space throughout the facility. Some of the spaces at the new facility, including the outdoor garden, have only been made possible through donor support.
A children's complex care transition facility will replace the Sunny Hill Health Centre in East Vancouver. This campus of care will be fully integrated, patient and family-centred, and provide trauma-informed care in a culturally safe environment. The centre will support children in improving the quality of their lives, and those of their family, through education and building local care capacity for those moving back home from an acute care setting, but may not be ready for a full return, as well as helping to avoid crisis situations requiring admission to an acute care facility.
Additional Quotes:
Benoit Morin, President and CEO, Provincial Health Services Authority
"We would like to thank Minister Dix and the provincial government for their support for Sunny Hill Health Centre's new state-of-the-art, purpose-built space at BC Children's Hospital. Our young patients and their families are now accessing specialized rehabilitation and developmental care in this new facility, benefitting from modern technology, and expanded clinical spaces created with healing and wellness in mind. This move also allows us to provide more seamless care for Sunny Hill patients, many of whom also receive treatment at BC Children's Hospital.
"We are also grateful for the support of BC Children's Hospital Foundation and its generous donors for funding key facility amenities, like the innovative therapy pool and outdoor garden."
Teri Nicholas, president and CEO of BC Children's Hospital Foundation
"Sunny Hill is an extraordinary community of children, many of whom face overwhelming challenges. And it takes an extraordinary community of donors to support their healing journey.
"We are tremendously grateful for the heartfelt support of our incredible leadership donors. In particular, we want to recognize the significant contributions of five generous donors whose visionary leadership represents over half of the total $14 million raised through the Sunny Hill Enhancement Initiative. A special thank-you to the Lalji Family, Thomas and Ann Blaauw and Family, Dr. Hilary and Patsy Hui, Djavad Mowafaghian Foundation and Peterson."
Natasha Ferris, mother of a former Sunny Hill acute rehabilitation patient
"With Sunny Hill now on the same campus as BC Children's, it will be so much easier for parents and kids going forward. BC Children's patients will now just be wheeled down a corridor if they need further care from Sunny Hill programs instead of being loaded into an ambulance and driven to East Vancouver, eight kilometres away."
Kerri Jackson, whose daughter, Elise, has received care at Sunny Hill for cerebral palsy
"The new space is absolutely gorgeous. They took all of the feedback from all of the families that had to spend time at Sunny Hill and they've incorporated that into the new space. Having everything all on one campus means it's simple. You have all of your caregivers, you have all of your appointments, and you have everything in one space."
Quick Facts:
- Sunny Hill was originally built in 1931 as a 25-bed Vancouver Preventorium for children with tuberculosis. There was an expansion to the building in 1958 and the name was changed to Princess Margaret Children's Village.
- In 1960, the facility began to treat children requiring extensive physiotherapy after surgery, children with severe chest problems or other diseases that required long-term medical management, and children with cerebral palsy, arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions.
- The facility was renamed again in 1961 to Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children. Sunny Hill was expanded in 1979 to enable increased rehabilitation services.
- In 2008, the relocation of the Sunny Hill Centre for Children from the Slocan Street site to the Children's and Women's campus on Oak Street was announced.
- Other facts about the new Sunny Hill Health Centre at BC Children's Hospital:
- 10,163 square metres (or 33,343 square feet)
- 53 designated assessment rooms in the outpatient clinics, many of which have observation capacity (a 77 per cent increase from the former location)
- 14 private inpatient rooms, with adjoining private washrooms and space for families to visit and sleep, with ability to expand to 18 if needed
BC Children's Hospital, a program of the Provincial Health Services Authority provides expert care for the province's most seriously ill or injured children, youth and young adults, including newborns. Child and Youth Mental Health provides a diverse range of specialized and one-of-a-kind tertiary mental health and substance use services for children, adolescents and young adults across the province. Follow us on Twitter @BCChildrensHosp.
The Provincial Health Services Authority plans, manages and evaluates selected specialty health care services across BC, working with the five regional health authorities, First Nations Health Authority and the Ministry of Health to deliver province-wide solutions that improve the health of British Columbians. For more information, visit www.phsa.ca or follow us @PHSAofBC.
