The new Critical Care Unit at Brandon Hospital is in its final leg of construction.
The Brandon Regional Health Centre Foundation continues with their A Foundation for Care campaign to support the Health Centre's $4 million expansion project.
"Currently we have ten beds in our ICU and with this new facility we're going to have 16," explains Saler. "And something that I'd really like to mention is that currently each bed is separated by a curtain, which is quite common. You see this often at lots of ICU units. We're really excited because this new unit will actually have private rooms for every single ICU bed. So, families will be able to have private rooms and be with their loved one and have that additional privacy. And it's going to have more space so it will go to the next level of patient care as well."
"We're also going to have 30 additional medical beds on the second level, and this will call an IPU Unit and essentially this is one step down from the ICU," she says. "So, when a patient is ready to be moved out of the ICU but not quite ready to go to the general centre yet, and they're in that kind of in-between phase, then they can go in there, the IPU. But it's still very much critical care."
Saler says the third level will have mechanical space, "because obviously there is a lot of operations that go into running this centre. And then the fourth level will be shell space for potential future expansion. So, they haven't released exactly what will be going in there yet, because they want to make sure they're making the most of the space they have," she adds.
Having a Critical Care Unit in the City of Brandon is significant as it is central to southwest Manitoba and is the only Critical Care Unit in Manitoba south of Winnipeg.
"It's so important. Many people don't realize it's the only ICU Unit on the Trans-Canada Highway between Winnipeg and Regina," she shares.
Saler notes this level of patient care is important for many reasons for the region.
"It reduces patient transfers," she says. "And the more we can keep people closer to home we know that that results in better recovery. It's better for patient outcomes if they can recover closer to home and closer to family. It's just such an important thing to have here in Brandon and we're really excited to be able to bring this project to life!"
Please listen to more with Jessica Saler on how to support the BRHC Foundation in this and other upcoming fundraisers.
The BRHC Foundation Gala will take place October 4th this year with all funds going to the Critical Care Centre. Tickets are already available for purchase at the BRHC Foundation website.