Dear Editor,
I had the honour of serving on the board of the Richmond Hospital Foundation for six years and I know we have some of the best medical professionals ready to help us welcome the newest members of our family, take care of our seniors, and provide life-saving care in our community whenever we may we need it.
However, as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the hospital this year, it’s clear our local facilities are not up to the same standard as these professionals’ skills. The original tower is showing its age and I firmly believe we are now at a crossroads in Richmond.
With too few beds, and those we have often full, we’ve seen emergency department lines grow as patients have nowhere to go. We need more space to accommodate our rapidly growing population, our seniors’ population in particular.
In addition, as outlined in a 2005 seismic report — and reiterated in a 2011 report — a moderate earthquake will render the original tower useless. We got very lucky on December 30th with an earthquake that was only 4.6 on the Richter scale — a few tenths higher and we could have experienced a disaster.
As government prioritizes infrastructure spending, I encourage them to partner with the Richmond Hospital Foundation to fund the construction of a new acute care tower that will ensure we have the facilities to serve the needs of our community now and in the future.
Matt Ilich
Richmond
