Interior Health has awarded the contract for the $4.3 million Invermere and District Hospital Redevelopment project to Mierau Contractors Ltd.

The company is based in Abbotsford, B.C. with a satellite office in Kamloops. In business since 1970, Mierau has 30 employees and prides itself in working and supporting the local economy when it goes into a new community, such as Invermere.

Interior Health has worked with Mierau since 2001 on such projects as the Arrow Lakes Hospital Extension in Nakusp, the Lytton Hospital and Extended Care, and the Ashcroft Hospital.

“The Regional Hospital District Board of Directors fully supports this important project and is pleased to see it moving forward to construction,” says Kootenay East Regional Hospital District Chair, John Kettle.

The cost of this project is being shared between the province, through Interior Health, the Kootenay East Regional Hospital District (KERHD); with the Columbia Valley Auxiliaries and East Kootenay Foundation for Health raising $500,000 for equipment.

The redevelopment project will see the emergency department double in size from 245 square metres to 546 square metres, increasing the number of treatment bays from six to 12 and features a new separate ambulance entrance. 

“Interior Health is working closely with the staff and physicians at the Invermere and District Hospital to ensure a smooth as possible transition into the construction phase of the ER redevelopment project” said Golden/Invermere Health Service Administrator Erica Phillips.

“We are committed to continuing to provide high quality care to our clients and patients.”

The contractors are expected to be on site the week of October 19 and with construction starting the week of October 26.