Healthcare teams have been conducting rehearsals, as they prepare to transfer hundreds of patients from other parts of Royal Columbian Hospital into the new Jim Pattison Acute Care Tower © Courtesy of Fraser Health
Behind the scenes at Royal Columbian Hospital, an extraordinary effort has been unfolding. As the Jim Pattison Acute Care Tower edges toward its imminent opening, teams across the hospital are deep into one of the most complex transitions in Royal
Columbian’s history. Equipment is being installed and tested, workflows are being redesigned, and hundreds of staff are preparing to move people, programs, and technology into an entirely new centrepiece for acute and critical care in British Columbia.
Few know the scale of this better than Ramona Fonseka, Chief Clinical Planner for Redevelopment at Royal Columbian Hospital. “There are thousands of items, everything from medical instruments to the amount of PPE a hospital needs,” she explains. “Anything and everything required to run a hospital has to be in place for the first patient day.”
Her team, together with activators and superusers from across the hospital, has been working floor by floor to ensure every piece is installed, tested, and ready before opening day.
Activators & Superusers
Those activators, experienced clinicians and operational experts, are validating room layouts, confirming equipment placement, and ensuring the full inventory of supplies is exactly where care teams will expect it.
Superusers, meanwhile, were the first wave of staff trained on new equipment, new technologies, and new workflows unique to the Tower. These champions have been guiding colleagues through orientation, troubleshooting, and readiness activities in the months and weeks before opening.
“What staff need most is orientation to the space, how to function and work within it, how to react, how to go and find the Code Blue button, where the crash cart is,” said Fonseka. “Then there’s training on new and different equipment that we don’t have access to in our current space.”
Supporting all of this is Health Care Relocations (HCR), a global leader in hospital moves. For HCR Senior Project Manager Cameron Goes, this is a signature project.
“We’ve done a lot of projects all over the world,” he said. “This will certainly be the biggest in B.C.’s history.”
Patient-Transfer Day
HCR’s role is both meticulous and mission-critical. The team mapped how departments would ramp down in their current spaces and coordinated the planned transfer of hundreds of patients into the new Tower. Every detail, from elevator access to hallway flow, was examined to ensure continuity of care at every step.
“You can’t snap your fingers and have all your people and equipment over there,” Goes explained. “We bring a phased approach to department moves so that services can ramp down, cut over efficiently, and ramp back up to the levels needed for the public.”
When the patients are moved into the new tower, dozens of teams, including Registration, Clean Team, Security, transport teams, and unit-based clinical staff, will work in tightly choreographed cycles.
Every team member will wear colour-coded T-shirts identifying their role, an approach honed through years of experience. “Everyone stays in their role, and we get the job done,” said Goes.
Ahead of that day, the hospital conducted patient-transfer rehearsals. This is an essential test of routes, timing, communication processes, elevator access, and staffing.
“We do it to gain that experience perspective,” Goes said. “We want to actually test it with equipment and a bed. Something can look good on paper, but in real time it may look a little different.”
New Era of Care
As preparation work unfolded, what became increasingly clear was that the Jim Pattison Acute Care Tower is not simply a new building; it represents a new model of care. Purpose-built spaces, integrated programs, and advanced technologies have been brought together to support patients at their most critical moments.
The Emergency Department on Level 1 has been designed to support 75 treatment spaces, with dedicated zones for different types of care, including mental health and pediatrics, alongside a medical imaging unit embedded directly within the department. This integration supports faster diagnosis and more efficient care.
Above, the Level 2 Interventional Superfloor has brought together operating rooms, interventional radiology, and interventional cardiology in a single, highly coordinated environment. With 17 operating rooms and eight interventional suites, this platform supports complex, team-based procedures and advanced surgical technologies, including robotics.
Critical care capacity has expanded significantly on Level 4, where intensive care, cardiac surgery intensive care, and a new cardiac intensive care unit have been co-located. This integrated platform supports the hospital’s role as a provincial centre for complex, life-threatening conditions.
Obstetrics and neonatal intensive care have been brought together on Level 5. With 24 single-family NICU rooms and an expanded 48-bed obstetrics unit, the design supports privacy and the continuous presence of families during some of the most important and challenging moments of care. Meanwhile, a new pediatrics unit is one floor above.
Higher floors have been dedicated to specialized programs, including neurosciences and trauma and orthopedics, reflecting Royal Columbian’s role as a leading referral centre for some of the most complex cases in the province.
Future of Care
Across the hospital, anticipation has been building, not only for the new addition’s advanced technology, expanded capacity, and single-patient rooms, but for the sense of calm and dignity the environment will offer.
“With the Jim Pattison Acute Care Tower, one of the pieces people will sense right away is how spacious and inviting the main entrance is, said Fonseka. “Access to natural light, beautiful single rooms, alcoves for families, we finally have a hospital that will match the exceptional care that is provided here.”
The move into the Jim Pattison Acute Care Tower is far more than a logistical event. It reflects the precision, care, and dedication that define Royal Columbian’s provincial role. When the doors open, patients and families will step into a modern, thoughtful, purpose-built environment, one shaped by thousands of hours of preparation and a shared commitment to exceptional care.
Donors to Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation have made a meaningful difference for patients, families, and the teams who care for them as the Jim Pattison Acute Care Tower prepares to open soon.
To add your support, visit rchfoundation.com
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We are the only hospital in BC with trauma, cardiac, neurosciences, high-risk maternity and neonatal intensive care on one site. We look after some of our province’s most seriously ill and injured patients, serving 1 in 3 British Columbians. In addition, we are a teaching hospital and a UBC Clinical Academic Campus.
We do it with the support of donors like you.