November 10 1949
Free Press Files
Second to none in modern convenience and equipment among the hospitals of Western Canada, Fernie Memorial Hospital, recently completed, will be officially opened by Mr. R.A. Penington, O.B.E., deputy provincial secretary, tomorrow (Remembrance Day) morning in a fitting ceremony, following the annual Remembrance Day service in the Vogue Theatre, this commencing at 10:30 o’clock. It is planned to hold the hospital opening at 11:10 a.m.
The new equipment and furniture have cost over $40,000, and minor changes and additions to the original contract have run the construction cost up another $19,000, so the total cost will be approximately $290,000 - a large sum expended, but the result: A thoroughly modern, fireproof, spacious, well-built hospital, fully equipped with those things most necessary to the recovery and comfort of the sick or injured. While it has been necessary to count the cost, the chief consideration throughout has not been the cost but rather the question: “Would this be beneficial to the patient?” If so, in-so-far as was possible, those supplies were purchased and such arrangements were made.
The new hospital is built of reinforced concrete. Metal and tile have been used throughout in the interior construction. The elevator and shaft, the door frames and all the furniture are metal, so that the building is as fireproof as possible. Acoustic tile has been used in the corridors to eliminate as much noise as possible, and signal lamps have been installed to avoid the clangor of bells when a patient calls for attention. The doors are so designed that patients can be transferred in their beds from any room in the building to any other.
In contrast with the toneless uniformity of wall coloring found in most hospitals, the rooms and wards have been tastefully decorated in pleasing pastel colors. The furniture is bright and cheerful and every window has a delightful view of the beautiful mountains that encircle Fernie. The equipment of the operating room embodies the latest developments in that line, and an accurate description would require a separate article. Taken all round this forty-six bed hospital embodied all the comfort and conveniences of the larger hospitals. Fernie citizens may well be proud of it, and, no doubt, its many advantages will bring patients from other places. It stands as a splendid MEMORIAL to the men who gave their lives that others might live in peace and safety.
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