Jennifer Feinberg - Chilliwack Progress
Published - May 20, 2009

The plan is to mark all the major milestones along the way in the ongoing $35-million redevelopment of Chilliwack General Hospital, said CGH executive director Rowena Rizzotti.

“There are six more to go,” she said Friday morning, at the first milestone celebration of the ambitious project.

The recent completion of Phase III was acknowledged with an open house, tours, refreshments and a trivia contest.

The fanfare heralded the newly completed hospital library, physician’s lounge, health records office and UBC Family Practice Residency office.

“It represents significant progress towards the completion of this project — a project that will enhance services provision and enable us to continue to meet the growing needs of our community,” said Rizzotti.

With no substantial development at CGH since 1986, the fresh, new work spaces are a renewed source of pride and enthusiasm for staff, even if the construction experience comes with its own set of challenges.

“It refreshes their spirit,” Rizzotti noted about the impact of the improvements.

They’re already moving into Phase IV of the construction, which includes the pediatric clinic, staff lounge and lockers and a medical day room, which will be completed by sometime this fall. The open house event also allowed campaign chair Etta Richmond to proudly acknowledge a pledge of $100,000 over five years, from Star 98.3 and Earls Chilliwack.

“This is a great day for Chilliwack,” she said about the donation to Fraser Valley Health Care Foundation’s A Campaign for Health Care Excellence.

The joint fundraiser, the annual Martini Mingle, hosted by Earls and Star 98.3, will be the source of the financial commitment they’ve made to the hospital project, said Raffaele Aiello, general manager of Earls.

Whereas in the past they’ve donated to various causes across the Fraser Valley, this time they zeroed in on the hospital redevelopment in Chilliwack.

“We made the decision to do something locally and support the hospital,” Aiello said. “We wanted to do our little part.”

Star 98.3 manager Ken Geiger said the radio station “couldn’t think of a better way” to give back to the local community than through the annual Martini Mingle. This year’s mingle is slated for May 26 at Earls, and the tradition which includes a martini recipe contest has been running for more than five years.

“The more we thought about it, the more it made sense to keep the money we raised in the community,” Geiger said.

The grand opening of the CGH project, which includes a new emergency department, is slated for late 2010 or early 2011.