Public invited to open house at Phil and Jennie Gaglardi Tower

People in Kamloops and across the Thompson Cariboo Shuswap region are invited to an open house at the Phil & Jennie Gaglardi Tower at Royal Inland Hospital on Saturday, June 25 from 1 to 4 p.m.

Interior Health is hosting the open house to allow the community to view Kamloops’ new hospital tower, before it opens to patients on July 18.

The event is being organized in collaboration with the RIH Foundation. People are invited to drop in throughout the afternoon and tour the building, entering through the new main entrance of the Gaglardi Tower located across from the public parkade. Parking will be free at RIH that day while wayfinding signage and volunteer guides will be posted to direct visitors.

“The new tower is set to open and our government is proud to support this vital project for people in Kamloops and area,” said Adrian Dix, Minister of Health. “I encourage people to stop by Saturday and see the new tower, which will provide public health-care services for decades to come.”

“We are proud to usher in this new era for Royal Inland Hospital by showcasing the Phil & Jennie Gaglardi Tower to the people who will rely on it,” said IH vice president, clinical operations north Diane Shendruk. “While there is no question these are challenging times for Kamloops health care, it’s also clear that this state-of-the-art tower is a facility that Kamloops residents, people across the region and local health-care professionals need and deserve.”

The Phil & Jennie Gaglardi Tower is a nine-storey hospital tower designed from a patient-centred and Elder-friendly perspective to provide a comfortable healing environment for patient treatment and recovery. Designed with extensive input from hospital staff and physicians, enhanced care spaces include single-patient rooms, each with their own washroom, as well as new operating rooms, mental health and substance use spaces, new labour and delivery rooms, a neurosciences and trauma unit, a rooftop helipad and more.

Local Indigenous communities have been engaged on design elements including a cultural mural, representing the traditional territory of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc along with the other Nations that rely on RIH, including the Métis, Tsilhqot’in, Dãkelh Dené, Nlaka’pamux, Northern St’at’imc and Syilx Nations.

Smudging ceremonies will be able to be hosted in patient rooms throughout the Gaglardi Tower.

“We are getting so close to being able to open up the Phil & Jennie Gaglardi Tower and provide enhanced care spaces to the public and improved working conditions for staff and physicians,” said executive director of clinical operations at RIH Tracey Rannie. “We are excited to show off this new tower to the community, so they can see the culmination of the years of hard work on this important health-care project.“

A reminder that the Gaglardi Tower is a health-care facility and masks will be required to attend the open house.