Fraser Health wants to hear from you.
If you want to have your say on the new Cloverdale hospital, Fraser Health is now offering six avenues for Surreyites to provide input.
“To help inform the planning process, we’re seeking thoughts and feedback from local residents and community organizations who may use the services of the hospital and cancer centre in the future,” says an information email from the organization.
Fraser Health has launched an online survey, they’ve scheduled a virtual information session Nov. 15 from 6 7:30 p.m., they’ve set up a series of online workshops and online focus groups, launched at project page portal with news and updates, and set up a dedicated email address for public feedback at nshbccc@fraserhealth.ca.
Scotty Wheatley, the executive director for the Cloverdale District Chamber of Commerce, decided to promote the Fraser Health initiative.
“Fraser Health launched it, but we’re fully supporting it,” said Wheatley. “The Chamber promoted it, because we thought public engagement and feedback is necessary at this point in the process. We need to build the best hospital possible.”
Wheatley thinks the new hospital needs to be “more robust” than what the NDP have indicated they’ll build in Cloverdale. He said it won’t have a maternity ward, something he’s heard residents desperately want.
“There’s a huge pushback,” said Wheatley. “(Residents) want a full-fledged hospital. It’s got an ER; it’s got a cancer clinic, which is wonderful, but it doesn’t have maternity and it’s not a big hospital. The area needs something a little bit larger.”
Wheatley said maternity is a big deal for many people. He said he’s heard horror stories of families having to go as far as Chilliwack to access maternity services.
He thinks the size and scope of the new hospital needs to be larger and take into account the needs of residents down the road, not just the current needs of people at the time the hospital opens.
“It’s like building a four-lane Pattullo Bridge to replace a four-lane Pattullo Bridge,” explained Wheatley. “Ya, it’ll still be a bridge, but in 10 years you’ll be wishing you built an eight-lane bridge.
“We have today’s needs, but we need to focus on tomorrow’s needs too.”
Fraser Health wants feedback from both community groups and individuals. The online survey will be available to residents throughout November. The virtual info-session, focus groups, and workshops all take place in November, with dates, respectively, set as Nov. 15, Nov. 16 and 17, and Nov. 22 and 24. The project page portal will be updated as new information becomes available. That web page also includes an overview of the project.
For more information on the community engagement process, and to access the project page, visit fraserhealth.ca/nshbccc.
editor@cloverdalereporter.com
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