Nurse excited for Royal Inland Hospital tower opening in July

The Phil & Jennie Gaglardi Tower will feature plenty of room for families to gather in a warm and welcoming environment, a new main entrance to the hospital as well as single-patient rooms throughout. The tower will be patient-focused with plenty of natural light, helping to provide a healing environment. 

Mo says these features will greatly benefit patients and staff.

“Individual rooms are a conducive environment for recovery. As a health-care worker, having those private spaces where you can be with a patient and develop a therapeutic relationship, where you can talk to someone in private, that is not only going to benefit the patient but employees as well. Staff are able to maintain patient confidentiality during assessments,” says Mo, who has held various roles at RIH including mental health and substance use (MHSU) clinical practice educator, interim manager of clinical operations, and her current role of nursing informatics MHSU specialist.

“Seeing the plans on paper and then the mock-ups of how the rooms would look like, and now seeing it all coming together…it’s so exciting. It’s designed to be a welcoming environment, there are going to be lots of images from around the region so bringing familiarity into the design. There are a lot of open spaces, a lot of natural light. It’s going to be really spectacular.”

The construction phase of the Phil & Jennie Gaglardi Tower wrapped up in mid February when EllisDon handed over the keys to Interior Health. Staff and physician orientation and equipment installation is now underway, leading to the tower opening to patients in July 2022.

When Simomo was doing her Masters degree at Brunel University in London, one of her professors was from Canada. Having grown up in Zimbabwe, Southern Africa, Mo was nursing in England while working on her degree in Environmental Science Ecosystems and Human Health.

She was also planning to relocate to Kamloops to begin a new chapter, in a new city and new country.

“I was so excited to tell my professor I was moving to Canada,” recalls Mo. “That was a brilliant move, I have no regrets.”

After 10 years as a health-care worker in West London, Mo made the trek to Canada in 2009, landing her first job at Hillside Centre before moving to RIH in Kamloops. In the heart of the Thompson Cariboo Shuswap, where hundreds of lakes are within easy reach and recreation abounds, it was a location that she loved immediately.

She found supportive colleagues, a work environment that challenged her skills and a work-life balance that made the difference.

“You have a good work-life balance because we have such a nice city, but if you drive in one direction for 15 minutes, you are out of town and can explore the lakes and the environment and everything that the wilderness offers,” she says. “There is no doubt that it has been a very challenging few years, with the pandemic and all, but we continue to put the care of patients above all else.”

If you’re interested in a career at RIH, there are many opportunities to explore in Kamloops.

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