Feb 12, 2025 – Brent Richter/North Shore News

After years of construction, work is now complete on the newest piece of health infrastructure on the North Shore.

The brand new, 108-bed Paul Myers Tower at Lions Gate Hospital will be open to patients starting on March 9. Infrastructure Minister Bowinn Ma made the announcement inside the Paul Myers Tower, on Wednesday.

“I know, personally as the local MLA here how important this new tower is to our growing community. It will provide a high-quality, state-of-the-art facility that residents and community members deserve,” she said.

With a growing and aging population, Ma acknowledged the demands on the existing Lions Gate Hospital often result in “hallway medicine” in which patients must wait on stretchers in the hallways before being admitted to a room.

Because of the benefits that come with a modernized hospital, Ma said they expect to see big improvements.

“The population needs in terms of health care are growing at a very rapid rate, and so we’re seeing pressures on our health care system all across the province, all across the country, indeed, all around the world,” she said. “[This] provides a very high-tech, state of the art facility that improves patient outcomes and allows us to deliver those outcomes sooner, which means that we’re actually able to serve more patients with the facility that we have.”

Getting a hospital wing built is one thing. Filling it with nurses and doctors is another. Although recruiting and retaining health care workers has been a challenge everywhere, Ma said the new tower will be fully staffed when it opens on March 9.

Read the full article at nsnews.com.