BURSTOngoing construction at the hospital in Smithers has some critics renewing their calls for a new building.
Northern Health is upgrading the clinical pharmacy dispensary at Bulkley Valley and District Hospital to bring the chemotherapy infrastructure and processes up to the specifications required by Canada’s National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities. All Northern Health sites are being upgraded to meet these standards.
The project at Bulkley Valley and District Hospital is expected to be complete in the first quarter of 2027. During the project, pharmacy services have been temporarily relocated to various other areas of the hospital, allowing most daily operations to continue from multiple locations with minimal disruption.
In order to allow intravenous chemotherapy to continue during construction, chemotherapy treatments are being prepared at the pharmacy at Ksyen Regional Hospital in Terrace and transported daily to Smithers. According to Northern Health significant planning and work have gone into ensuring this service can continue as seamlessly as possible during construction.
Oral oncology prescriptions are still being processed locally at the local hospital.
Northern Health added, that throughout construction there may be temporary disruptions to various areas of the hospital. The health authority is working to mitigate the impact of these disruptions as much as possible and they appreciate the patience and understanding of staff and patients throughout the project.
A separate project was started last year to upgrade the hospital power systems to increase capacity. Northern Health upgraded the main electrical panel and hospital generator. BC Hydro upgraded one of the two power lines to the hospital and the second power line is expected to be upgraded this summer.
While at this time there is no timeline for a replacement for Bulkley Valley District Hospital, Stikine MLA Sharon Hartwell said there should be, noting the building is over 70 years old and inadequact for modern medical needs.
“We’ve waited long enough, and yes, it costs money to build in the North, The North isn’t going to be left out of the equation anymore,” she said.
“Our health care is important, if not more so, we have farther to go for any kind of medical upgrades or anything like that, that we may need, any kind of surgeries, any kind of extended medical care that can’t be done here, so you know it’s time that the North was recognized.”
She also said that if the region wants to attract medical professionals, it needs to provide the infrastructure and the circumstances for them to be able to work here.
“We had last week in caucus, we had a presentation from BC physicians, and who are very actively trying to have the young doctors and healthcare professionals mentored as a team-based approach for rural community, so behind the scenes a lot of other organizations are working on this, but they need to have a decent place to work when they’re going to get out of medical school, and you know they’re going to be taught new things on new pieces of equipment, and band aids just don’t work anymore.”