St. Albert’s hospital will be able to clean more instruments and draw more blood once a $2 million upgrade is complete next year.
Alberta Health Minister Sarah Hoffman dropped by the Sturgeon Community Hospital Monday to talk about how the province had completed about $55 million of the $131 million in infrastructure maintenance projects it funded in its most recent budget.
Details of the funding were announced last April. There was no new money announced for St. Albert on Monday.
“Many of these projects aren’t fancy, but they are absolutely necessary and they have been put off far too long,” Hoffman said. This cash is meant to address a backlog of maintenance projects that had built up due to years of underfunding by previous governments.
Hoffman said that the infrastructure maintenance projects the province had funded would attract and sustain about 10,000 jobs over the next three years.
The Sturgeon hospital has received $2 million to upgrade its lab area and replace a boiler that dates back to when the hospital opened in 1992.
“If you think back to 25 years ago ... that’s when Jarome Iginla just started making his mark on the ice. He was playing Midget AAA hockey with the St. Albert Raiders,” Hoffman said.
This particular boiler, which resembles a large domestic furnace, is used to produce the steam used to sterilize medical equipment at the Sturgeon, said facility manager Rick Cowan. It still works, but it’s nearing the end of its lifespan and doesn’t have the steam capacity the hospital needs. The new boiler will use about 25 per cent less energy and allow them to expand their sterilization room.
Crews also plan to replace the hospital’s de-aerator, which is a big white tank that removes dissolved oxygen from the water going into the boiler so it doesn’t corrode the pipes.
The boiler and de-aerator should cost about $800,000, Cowan said.
The rest of the cash will go towards expanding the hospital’s lab, which is where some 24,000 patients a year go to get blood tests, said Regan Wolansky, zone director of lab services at the Sturgeon.
Right now, the lab has three blood-collection chairs for patients separated by curtains, which isn’t great for patient confidentiality. The plan is to install sight barriers between the chairs and to add one or two additional chairs, making the lab similar to the one found at the DynaLIFE Dx office across the street.
Wolansky and Cowan said these renovations should be complete by this spring.
