New ER set to open on Tuesday Oct 1st at Surrey Memorial Hospital

SMH New BuildingSURREY, BC: The new ER at Surrey Memorial Hospital (SMH) opens its doors on Tuesday (Oct. 1), and along with improvements to the inside of the hospital, things will be different on the outside as well.

THE NEW ENTRANCE WILL BE NAMED “GURU NANAK EMERGENCY SERVICES ENTRANCE”
GURU NANAK EMERGENCY SERVICES ENTRANCE

There will be significant changes to how people access the new site and where they can park.

As of 7:30 a.m. on Oct. 1, access to the former ER entry from 96 Avenue will no longer be available. Instead, people will need to use one of two new entryways to access the Guru Nanak Emergency Services front entrance:SMH new enrty

• Use the new King George access if driving north on King George Boulevard.

• Use the new 94A Avenue access if driving south on King George Boulevard or along 96 Avenue.

The new ER and pediatric emergency centre are located on the west side of SMH (13750 96 Ave.), on Level 1 of the Critical Care Tower, which is slated to open next year.

Parking is also changing on Oct. 1.:

• A new Critical Care Tower underground public parkade opens below the ER with 220 stalls.

• The 425-stall north parkade closes for approximately one year for demolition and reconstruction into a five-storey parkade.

• The Lark Building underground parkade opens on 96 Avenue and 137 Street, with 585 stalls for public and staff hospital parking until the north parkade re-opens.

At 57,000 square feet – five times the size of the current emergency department – the new ER is big enough to fit three NHL hockey rinks inside.

The bigger building also comes with 275 more staff – about 80 to 100 of them in the ER – and 3,750 new pieces of equipment, much of it being purchased by the Surrey Memorial Hospital Foundation.

The new ER is part of a $512-million SMH redevelopment and expansion. The rest of the project is slated for completion in June 2014 and includes a new eight-storey Critical Care Tower with 151 more inpatient beds, intensive care unit, academic space and perinatal centre.