A new home-away-from-home for visiting medical staff is new open in Vanderhoof.
St. John's Hospital has, for many decades, provided on-site accommodations for rotational medical professionals, students and support staff but on Friday these rooms were re-launched after a modernizing facelift.
"These renovations support our ability to house students, visiting physicians and other
health professionals while they are working on short or long term placements in our
community," said April Hughes, Omineca and Lakes District health service administrator for
Northern Health. "Our ability to provide comfortable accommodations helps us to stay
competitive in attracting new recruits and students to our community."
The $50,000 upgrade focused on installing an additional washroom, better furnishings, some wall repairs, new paint and new flooring throughout the building. It was a 12-room structure first constructed in the 1950s to house nuns who came to Vanderhoof to work at the hospital.
The money for these repairs came from two primary sources.
One was a $22,000 donation from the estate of area resident Earl Laverne Moffat.
Another $25,000 was contributed by the Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation.
"We're very pleased to be able to help with this greatly needed renovation project," said
Don Gowan, chief executive officer of the foundation.
"Part of our foundation's goal is to become more engaged and active in all regions of Northern Health and this renovation certainly fits with our mandate of enhancing health care throughout northern B.C."
