Cypress Regional Hospital Celebrates 5th Anniversary

Dignitaries cut the ribbon on the brand-new Cypress Regional Hospital in Swift Current in 2007. (Photo: Cypress Health Region)

The Cypress Regional Hospital in Swift Current celebrated its fifth anniversary this past week.

The hospital officially opened on April 27, 2007 at 4:00pm replacing the now-demolished Swift Current Union Hospital, and was the result of years of planning, construction and committment from the Cypress Health Region and the community.

The anniversary was celebrated with cake and coffee at the hospital's cafeteria Monday afternoon.

"When I think back, it just feels like yesterday that we were making the move," said Cypress Health Region CEO Beth Vachon. "There was so much planning that had got into not only getting ready to move into this building, but closing out our old hospital and transferring patients, and making sure that our staff had everything they needed when they got here. It's just so hard to believe that we haven't always been in this building, because it really does feel like a home for us in the region."

Vachon adds the new hospital has allowed them to focus on patient care, quality and safety much more than they could in their former building: "When you've got a building that was designed by the staff that are going to be working in it, I think it really starts to allow us to spend the time working on those kinds of issues instead of always trying to work around a building that had served its purpose, and whose time expired."

In the five years since the hospital opened, it has hosted 10,001 surgeries, delivered 1678 babies, and its emergency department saw 92,723 patients. It was also the first hospital in Saskatchewan to implement a digitized diagnostic system, achieved full staffing levels in the lab and medical imaging departments, and has never had any unit lockdowns because of disease or illness outbreaks.

Vachon added the hospital has been serving the community very well over the last five years, and will continue to do so well into the future.

More photos of the construction of the hospital provided by the Cypress Health Region:

Representatives from the Province, City of Swift Current and Cypress Health Region show off the site of the new hospital just off the Highway 4 bypass

Construction of the hospital is well underway

How the site looked in September of 2006

A piece of diagnostic imaging equipment gets moved into the new hospital

Cypress Health Region CEO Beth Vachon talked with reporters about the hospital's 5th anniversary: