Background information on Paul Myers Tower at Lions Gate Hospital

The Paul Myers Tower was designed to provide patient and family centered care. With more access to daylight, views of nature and single-patient rooms that can accommodate one overnight guest, it is an environment that supports comfort and healing.

There are numerous shared spaces and amenities to support patients, family and staff wellbeing, including lounges, a House of Elders office, a Sacred Space, additional bike storage and a roof garden with a walking path.

Building design 

The hospital's facade has been designed to harmonize with the current hospital and HOpe Centre while exuding a sense of modernity. Its sleek lines and abundant natural light create a welcoming atmosphere that contribute to the overall healing experience for patients. Exterior window placement was chosen to suit the functions on each floor and offer ample natural light in both patient and staff spaces. The façade features horizontal wood slats that echo traditional Long House construction (please see ‘creating safe and welcoming spaces’ for more information). 

Accessibility

Committed to creating a diverse and inclusive health care system, VCH collaborated with members of its Community Engagement Advisory Network (CEAN) to implement features enabling greater accessibility for patients and their families. Accessible features can be found throughout the Paul Myers Tower, including: 

• Handrails along the walls on public floors;
• Hand and foot automatic door open buttons;
• Seating spaces and tactile warning strips in exterior spaces;
• Wheelchair spaces beside benches and at tables in the Roof Garden; and
• Designated accessible parking spots.

Throughout the tower, signage includes English, Traditional Chinese and Farsi – the top three most prevalent languages in VCH’s Coastal Community of Care. Signage also includes Braille in select locations, such as public elevators, and Host Nations’ languages hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh sníchim for locations of cultural significance, including the Sacred Space, the House of Elders, as well as the Multi-Use Hall, Information Desk and Roof Garden.

Patient rooms 

The Paul Myers Tower has 108 private patient rooms, each featuring an ensuite washroom and large window for natural light. Building on COVID-19 learnings, deep well sinks and copper coatings on high-touch surfaces such as door handles all support infection prevention and control. A ceiling lift in each patient room helps with patient movement and reduces staff injuries due to lifting. 

Twelve of the 108 patient rooms are private single-occupancy airborne isolation/bariatric rooms with ensuite washrooms.

Innovative technologies

The new Paul Myers Tower will have innovative technologies to improve patient experience and enhance safety for patients and staff. Many care spaces have the technology to support delivery of virtual care services.

A first for British Columbia, RoomLink display panels help ensure quality and safe patient care by providing key patient information to all staff and visitors who enter patient rooms. RoomLink panels are mounted outside and inside each of the inpatient rooms in the Paul Myers Tower. 

An upgraded version of the Rauland Nurse Call system has been installed in each of the inpatient rooms. The system is enhanced with new call buttons and integrated with nurse’s Vocera badges for patient alerts, helping to ensure that the right call gets to the right person right away, ensuring patient safety and enhanced patient care. 

The Patient Tracking Walkout Alarm (PTWA) system will enhance patient safety by notifying nursing staff when a patient wearing a PTWA patient tag leaves a specified area. The system has been implemented in the new Paul Myers Tower's inpatient units, exits, stairwells and elevators through to the basement, as well as at the North and South Lobby exits.

The Capacity Management Suite (CMS) is a set of computer modules and smartphone apps to manage the placement of patients, the transport of patients and items, and the bed cleaning process. In November 2023, CMS was implemented in HOpe Centre and Northern Expansion Building, helping care teams transition patients out of the Emergency Department and into a bed on a unit faster. The system has been expanded for units moving to the Paul Myers Tower.   

Vocera Smartbadges were implemented at Lions Gate Hospital in May 2024, allowing staff to make calls using voice commands in HOpe Centre and Northern Expansion Building. The system has been adapted for the clinical spaces moving to the Paul Myers Tower, and will be expanded to Allied Health providers and the Medical Device Reprocessing Department starting in Spring 2025. 

Masimo Patient Vitals Monitoring will enhance patient care by providing continuous monitoring and charting of patient vital signs as well as alerts to clinicians when patient vitals are outside of acceptable parameters. Starting in Spring 2025, Masimo monitors will be mounted inside each of the inpatient rooms as well as all operating rooms (ORs) across the Lions Gate Hospital campus.

New surgical centre 

The Paul Myers Tower has eight state-of-the-art operating rooms (ORs) as well as 39 pre-operative and post-operative spaces.

The ORs are built to the latest industry standards. An enhanced OR layout provides a larger working space to better accommodate equipment with bed placement that supports a logical flow of tasks and activities during surgeries, improving efficiencies and surgical outcomes. All equipment will be on one floor for easier access.

Building on COVID-19 learnings, an Airborne Isolation Operating Room and two Airborne Isolation Post-Operative Recovery bays have been designed for the new space.

Medical Device Reprocessing Department (MDRD) 

With the opening of the Paul Myers Tower, the Medical Device Reprocessing Department (MDRD) is moving from its current location on the ground floor of the Northern Expansion Building to the third floor of the Paul Myers Tower. 

This state-of-the-art MDRD will use the latest technologies to service and clean medical devices, including an updated T-DOC surgical instrument tracking system that will be rolled out starting in Spring 2025.

VCH delivers health services to 1.25 million people in British Columbia in 37 communities and 14 First Nations territories. At Lions Gate Hospital, which is located on the traditional, unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation), VCH provides health care to more than 270,000 residents in rural and urban settings in its Coastal Community of Care. 

VCH is committed to lasting reconciliation with First Nations. Pursuing meaningful engagement with the two Host Nations during the design of the tower was a priority to honour the Host Nations and to help create safer, welcoming and culturally appropriate spaces for all Indigenous patients and families. 

To do this, VCH focused on building relationships and co-creating an engagement process and framework with Host Nations. Through the engagement process, VCH heard that it was important for the “thumbprint” of the Nations to be reflected in aspects of the building design, including the building’s interior design “story”, themes for each floor, a sacred space and House of Elders, landscape plantings in the outdoor spaces, art and furniture as well as to incorporate the Nations’ stories, culture and languages. 

VCH and the Host Nation advisors used innovative thinking to create opportunities to demonstrate that the project lands are Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and səlilwətaɬ territories. This presence is reflected through the tower.

Exterior and interior design: The exterior and interior design of the Paul Myers Tower includes horizontal wood slats to echo traditional Long House construction in acknowledgement of the unceded and ancestral territories of the Host Nations on which the hospital is built. The cedar slats in the inpatient units on levels four to six were milled from the cedar trees that needed to be cleared from the site to make room for the new tower. By listening to the Host Nation advisors’ stories about the land and waters and collecting these into a cohesive narrative for the building, the building theme – Tide to Sky – was determined. This was further developed into a theme and colour palette for each floor, which are reflected in the design, artwork and furniture. These themes are as follows: 

Basement: mineral
Level one: marine 
Level two: shell 
Level three: medicine
Level four: feather 
Level five: forest
Level six: mountain

Welcome Figures: Two Welcome Figures are located at the 13th Street entrance to the Paul Myers Tower to acknowledge the traditional and unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw and səlilwətaɬ on which the hospital is built. VCH worked closely with Host Nation advisors and artists throughout the process of bringing each figure to life, by upholding the Welcome Figures as representations of the deep connections between people, land and water. 

Artwork: Host Nation advisors selected Indigenous artwork to be placed throughout the Paul Myers Tower. The art includes carvings, paintings, prints and weavings and was thoughtfully chosen to align with the floor themes.

Signage: Throughout the tower, signage for five spaces (Sacred Space, House of Elders, Information, Multi-Use Hall and Roof Garden) are translated into Host Nations’ languages, hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh sníchim. Signage that explains traditional uses of culturally significant plants used in landscaping in the Roof Garden also includes translations of the plant names in the Host Nations’ languages. 

Sacred Space and House of Elders: These spaces were developed in collaboration with Host Nation advisors. The Sacred Space is open to all patients and their families around the clock. Mindful features include a wide entrance that can accommodate a hospital bed, ventilation for smudging, acoustic considerations in the wall design for drumming and singing, dimmable lights and a sink with a tea station. 

The House of Elders will be a space for Indigenous patients and their families to connect with the VCH Elders Program. 

Roof Garden: This outdoor space features a stunning view of the North Shore mountains, the Two Sisters Outdoor Gathering Space and as well as signs that share Host Nation stories. In the garden, there are 12 valued plants incorporated into the landscaping design, including teachings and translations in the planting signage for many of these. The Two Sisters Outdoor Gathering Space will be a welcoming, culturally safe environment to support Indigenous patients' cultural protocols and spiritual care needs, such as ceremonies, smudging, drumming and singing, that are important to Indigenous healing and well-being. 

The Paul Myers Tower will provide a more comfortable working environment for staff and medical staff with an efficient layout to ensure optimal workflows and technology upgrades with real-time outcome measures, including the ability to deliver care virtually from any workstation. It will also be a bright, safe and comfortable patient-centred environment for quality care and a better, overall patient experience.

Features include: 

• A more comfortable working environment;
• Right-sized spaces to meet best practice standards;
• Efficient layout to ensure optimal workflows and design to allow cost-effective future growth;
• Technology upgrades with real-time outcome measures and the ability to deliver care virtually from any workstation;
• Optimal departmental configuration for effective operations and alignment with infection prevention and control best practices; and
• Improved efficiencies with universal and flexible ORs and appropriate support space.