100 years Friday, Sept. 14, 2012
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Welcome Patients and visitors are invited to learn more about the hospital’s history throughout September when archived photos will be on display in the main hospital lobby. The photos reflect historical highlights and the many changes that have taken place at Royal Inland since its construction on the current site 100 years ago.
Blood Pressure Cuff / 1950s
INSIDE Congratulations, RIH! .................................. 2 Technology Changing Health Care . ............ 3 Outpatient Care Important at RIH . ............. 6 Med Students Learn Much at RIH ............... 7 Hospital Close to Woman’s Heart ................ 8
Special Edition to The Kamloops Daily News
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www.rihfoundation.ca
100 Years – A Look Back at RIH History Royal Inland Hospital has a long-standing history of providing great medical care in Kamloops. Built in 1885, Royal Inland was the first hospital in the B.C. Interior. It was originally built on Lorne Street with 14 beds under the direction of the sole physician, Dr. S. Tunstall. Back then, doctors sometimes had house calls that took them a hundred miles away, travelling by freight train, horse and buggy, and on foot. In 1912 a new hospital was completed at the current location. On Sept. 14 a ceremony coinciding with the city’s centennial opened the hospital. The Duke of Connaught, then GovernorGeneral of Canada, was present along with other dignitaries. It was a great day for Kamloops. The building was constructed by contractors Johnson and Company, built of locally made Kamloops bricks. The hospital was comprised of two wings. The east wing contained rooms for the student nurses and nursing school staff. The 1911 cornerstone from this building can still be seen on display outside the front doors in the breezeway of the current hospital. The new facility was really put to the test in 1918, when the Spanish influenza blazed through Kamloops and the rest of the country, leaving the hospital unable to cope with the large number
September 14, 1912 — A celebration with his Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught marked the hospital’s opening at its current location 100 years ago today.
of patients. The flu would affect one in six Canadians, killing 30,000 to 50,000 people during the winter of 1918, and nearly decimating many First Nations communities. In 1920, a new laundry building was opened, with student nurses busily keeping up housekeeping duties. A new lab — the third medical laboratory in B.C. — was constructed in 1925, and a new nurses’ home was added in 1927. Later, the Alumnae Tower would be opened in 1964, followed by completion of the nine-storey South Tower. The education and training of nurses in the area was transferred to Cariboo College in the 1970s, marking the end of an era for the School of Nurs-
ing, which had graduated 913 nurses in its 70 years of operation. The North Tower was completed in 1981, replacing the west wing and central block of the original hospital. In 1988 a new four-storey west wing opened and the original 1912 east wing was demolished. Patients and visitors are invited to learn more about the hospital’s history throughout September when archived photos will be on display in the main hospital lobby. The photos reflect historical highlights and the many changes that have taken place at Royal Inland since its construction on the current site 100 years ago.
RIH Planning for Future Needs 2011 Master Site Plan
An artist’s rendering of the vision for the future Royal Inland Hospital, as presented in the 2011 Master Site Plan. Phase One of the hospital redevelopment focuses on the Clinical Services Building on Columbia Street.
On July 11, Premier Christy Clark was in Kamloops to make an exciting announcement — the first phase of the redevelopment of Royal Inland Hospital, which will include a new clinical services building, medi-
cal teaching space and more on-site parking, is moving forward. “I know that the future of Royal Inland Hospital is an important issue to the region to meet the growing and changing needs of families,” said
“Our master site plan established a long-term vision for future development at Royal Inland that is both comprehensive and galvanizing,” said Royal Inland Hospital Administrator Marg Brown. “It’s an exciting time. Our future looks bright,” she added with a smile. Premier Clark. “That’s why we are moving forward with this multiphased redevelopment project.” The first phase of redevelopment includes constructing clinic space for outpatient services. The building could also provide teaching space for the UBC medical school program as well as much needed parking and improved vehicle and pedestrian access to the hospital. The project is estimated to cost about $80 million, to be shared with the Thompson Regional Hospital District. Detailed construction costs will be determined when the business case is approved in early 2013 and construction could begin in late 2013. Matthew Stubbings is a respiratory therapist at Royal Inland who has worked in several other hospitals. He said the recent announcement is good news. “At other hospitals complaints involved things like lack of physicians or long waits in the Emergency de-
partment,” he said. “It’s a credit to the staff here that the biggest thing I hear in Kamloops is not about patient care but the lack of parking and the difficulty for the elderly to access the hospital; walking up those stairs and steep slope. “Because my work involves patients from several departments in the hospital, I’m also very familiar with the cramped quarters we are dealing with. Throughout the hospital, space is at a premium.” In June 2011, Interior Health completed a master site plan for Royal Inland Hospital which will be used to guide future development at the site. The plan highlighted priority areas requiring expansion and redesign, including hospital site access and parking, surgical services, inpatient areas and ambulatory care. To proceed with future work, the site requires redevelopment of roadway access routes to the facility, the establishment of pedestrian pathways and better parking infrastructure.