The Burnaby Hospital planning committee is officially up and running and using social media to help get the word out about what it's doing - and to get ideas back from the community.
The hospital has set up a Facebook account (www. facebook.com/Mybbyhospital), as well as a Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/mybbyhospital.
On both sites, they encourage local residents to contact them with ideas.
"As part of the master planning process for our hospital, we want to hear from all individuals and organizations who would like to share their vision for Burnaby Hospital," reads the announcement on its Facebook page. "What changes are needed? Please email us at mybby [email protected] so we can schedule a time for you to speak with the Burnaby Hospital community consultation committee."
Burnaby Hospital is made up of two buildings - the first was built in the 1960s and the other in the 1970s. There have been no major renovations since then, other than a small expansion to the ER in 2008.
Its age has been named as a key factor in the ongoing challenge of outbreaks of the highly infectious bacteria C. difficile.
Health Minister Mike de Jong announced in late April that the ministry, the Fraser Health Authority and the hospital were kicking off a "high level master planning" process to look at the future of the hospital site.
Local MLAs Harry Bloy and Richard Lee will sit as chair and vice-chair, respectively, for the committee; other members include citizen chair Pamela Gardner, committee spokesperson Dr. David Jones, Vern Milani, Dr. David Yap, Dr. Ross Horton, Bob Enns, Thomas Tam, Teresa Leung, Wendy Joan Scott and Jennifer Roff as recording secretary.
The committee is tasked with providing an assessment of the health-care needs of the community and looking at ways to improve health-care outcomes in long-term and acute care, by gathering information from various stakeholder groups and the community.
A first report is expected back to the ministry by the fall, with an estimated cost of $230,000 for this first stage of the process.
www.twitter.com/ChristinaMyersA
