IWK Health will soon be opening a new pediatric emergency department in Halifax. “This is our brand-new emergency department. The new construction is 32,000 square feet,” said Rebecca DeChamplain, clinical lead for the Research Redevelopment Project. “Which is triple the footprint of our current emergency department and more than double the patient care spaces. It is beautiful and it is almost ready for patient care. We are in the final stages of construction and will soon be installing all of our furniture and equipment and artwork to make the space welcoming for patients and families in the new year.” Located on the north side of the IWK Children’s Building on University Avenue, the new department is expected to open in 2027. In 2021, the Government of Nova Scotia approved the funding, projected to cost $127 million, to replace the existing department, which opened in 1992. “One-hundred-and-forty-seven inclusive of the foundation funding that’s coming in through $127 from government and then over $30 million from our foundation,” said Laroque of the final price tag, which keeps them in budget at the current stage. Because of the influx of patients and families utilizing the department, the upgrade was needed. “It’s the exact same population that we’re currently servicing today. Children that are going from newborn right to the age of 16. And then for our mental health and addictions population, it will be up to 19,” said LeeAnn Larocque, VP of clinical care at IWK Health. “The space is triple the size of our current department. We’ve put in features in here that will actually help us provide safe care, better care, more efficient care from the new space that we’re able to occupy.” According to the IWK, visits increased from 34,000 a few years ago to an average of more than 45,000 a year, something the current space isn’t large enough for. “We are managing the patient volumes that we have now by using as many extra spaces as we could manage to convert into patient care spaces in the interim,” said DeChamplain. “We cleared out all our office spaces, conference rooms, classrooms, and we converted them into patient care spaces. And we’re using every square foot that we have now to maximize our ability to see patients in the space without having to use corridors for patient care. But this will give us double the space to be able to do that in.” More than just space, the new pediatric department will have state of the art equipment. “All the care spaces will be fitted with modern equipment to allow us to monitor patients 24 hours a day,” said DeChamplain. “We have a new decontamination space. We have three resuscitation rooms, all with brand new equipment, medication areas embedded into those spaces and new X-ray in our department that we don’t currently have. A CT suite adjacent to the new department. All those features will make the care experience better for both the patients and staff caring for them. “New equipment with a more efficient layout of the space. So for example, our decontamination space right now is in our ambulance bay. It’s just pop-up showers in our ambulance bay. This gives us a proper decontamination suite. Our X-ray room and our CT room are not within the department in our current space, so they’re now within the footprint of the emergency department. And a lot of new features are new communication systems and things like that that will enable staff to communicate better and more efficiently. Central monitor vital signs, machines, all things along those lines.” “I think the one thing that I would say is that we learned a lot during COVID,” said Laroque. “We were actually in the process of building this when COVID hit. And from an infection control perspective, we put a lot of features in this new building that we currently don’t have in our existing department, such as isolation rooms, the air handling, and we have the first in Canada isolation room for a trauma and recess room. No one across Canada has that yet. “And we have lots of reach out from across Canada asking us what that experience will be like. If someone came in and requires resuscitation, and has an infection, we can actually use one of our rooms that we currently don’t have. We have two resuscitation rooms in this building downstairs. You have to share. So, if you have a trauma that comes in and they’re from different families and they both need the trauma room. They’re in there together and just separated by a curtain. And maintaining privacy and confidentiality is very difficult when you’re in those situations here. You’ll be able to do that because we have separate rooms.” It will have spaces for families, including a playground on top of the building. Patients, families and staff have all been consulted to help with the design. “We have a patient and family advisory council that has worked with us throughout the entire project,” said DeChamplain. “And I think they will see the input from the patients and families provided. Everything from the artwork, the theming, the games, the furniture selection, everything was designed with the patient and family in mind.” “This space actually was designed by the youth who had come to our emergency department previously, and they gave us pointers on what they wanted and what they wanted to see in the space privately,” said Laroque. “And confidentiality was huge for them.” In addition to the space, the IWK is working on a new patient flow so people will be seen quicker and more efficiently. “It’s pulling forward our patients so that they can actually get into care quicker into a room and then make one step closer to discharge and or admission to the hospital,” said Laroque. “We’re hoping that that flow through model will actually improve wait times and then have patients either admitted and or discharged home. We’ve been practicing that model already in our existing department so that when we move in here, people do not have to get used to it. It’ll actually be already in place.” This new project also means new jobs, hiring at least 10 nurses, a pharmacist and additional child lifestyle and nurse practitioners. “We really do believe this project is a great recruitment and retention strategy for staff on hire. They’re aware of the project happening and it’s a real incentive for them to want to come and work in this space,” said DeChamplain. “They get to experience right now the struggles that we’re having in our current department. But they’re participating in the design and readiness for this new space. They’re very excited to be able to work in the space. We hope that that will help with staff retention as well.” For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
