Newly appointed Minister of Health, Dr. Margaret MacDiarmid, and Dr. Nigel Murray, CEO of the Fraser Health Authority, will be special guests at tonight's Burnaby Hospital community consultation committee public forum at the Italian Cultural Centre in Vancouver.

The Sept. 6 forum will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. and will be the committee's second-to-last public meeting before submitting their report to MacDiarmid and the Fraser Health Authority.

The Italian Cultural Centre is at 3075 Slocan St. in Vancouver (at Grandview Highway), three blocks from the Renfrew SkyTrain Station on the Millennium Line. The forum will be held in the centre's Trattoria Hall.

The final meeting will be held Saturday, Sept. 8, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Bonsor Recreation Complex, 6550 Bonsor Ave. in Burnaby.

Short presentations will also be made by Dr. David Jones (the committee's spokesperson), by Dr. Davidicus Wong, representing 150 family doctors and their vision for the future of Burnaby Hospital, and by Rahim Rajan, chair of the Board of Trustees of the Burnaby Hospital Foundation.

Members of the public are invited to bring their ideas, thoughts and vision for Burnaby Hospital to the open meeting and join the conversation or just listen in.

The 12-member Burnaby Hospital community consultation committee is chaired by Burnaby-Lougheed MLA Harry Bloy and citizen-chair Pamela Gardner and includes local residents, doctors, business owners and MLAs.

The committee has been working with doctors, healthcare providers, unions, employers and community associations for the past several months to gather information and explore ways to improve the delivery of healthcare services and outcomes at Burnaby Hospital.

On April 27, it was announced that Fraser Health, in partnership with the Burnaby Hospital Foundation, had commenced a master-planning process to develop a clear vision for the expansion, improvement and delivery of health services at the hospital.

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