Whitehorse hospital's new emergency department makes some adjustments

The new, $72-million emergency department at Whitehorse General Hospital has had some kinks to work out. But officials say they're making the necessary adjustments.

The facility opened last month, and it was soon apparent that patients' privacy was an issue.

"Initially when we opened the new department, we were doing the triage right at the triage desk and those conversations were happening right at the desk," says CameronHeke, managerof communications for the Hospital Corporation.

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"And what we did is, we began to actually have patients go into a private triage room and we would close the door. And that's where all the conversations are happening now."

Other improvements include a reconfigured waiting area with a numbering system to increase privacy near the triage desk.

Adjustments also needed to be made to deal withthe air flow balance at the entrance of the building, so that frigid air doesn'tfloodin every time the doors open.

Heke says it was a cold January, so the hospitalworked with the contractor to fine-tune the internal air balancing system.

'Always going to be adjustments'

Heke says hospital staffdo their best to act on feedback from patients. He says the hospitalcontinuesto make improvements and adjustments to improve the environment for staff and patients.

"It's healthcare. There is always going to be adjustments and changes, it's the nature of what we are doing," Heke said.

"We are going to keep making changes as needed, as we go forward"

The number of emergency room visits hasranged from32,000 and 33,000 annually, in recentyears.

Construction on the new emergency room wing began in 2015. Ithas 17 patient rooms, including 15 exam rooms and two trauma rooms.

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