Langley, BC – The city of Langley is a growing community with shifting demographics. Young families are increasingly moving to the area, and long-term residents of the community are aging – changes that have meant additional pressure for the Langley Memorial Hospital’s emergency department.

The hospital’s emergency department was originally built to accommodate around 25,000 visits per year. Today, the department sees about 47,000 visits per year (around 128 people each day), which is nearly twice the number of people the space was originally built to support. By 2025, the number of visits to the Langley emergency department is expected to average about 47,698 per year.

In response to the growing need, the Langley Memorial Hospital Foundation began a fundraising campaign to expand the emergency department, including adding an MRI suite.

Last year, Qualico donated $100,000 to help support the initiative, which aimed to raise $15 million overall.

Terra Scheer, Communications and Stewardship for the Langley Memorial Hospital Foundation, noted the impact that Qualico’s donation will have going forward.

“With Qualico’s development projects in Langley, and the company’s commitment to deliver thoughtful support and philanthropy to the communities they build in – with the vision of creating lasting, practical impact – the new emergency department project was a natural fit,” she said. “The impact of the new emergency department and MRI suite will be significant and increase the quality of life for residents of Langley for generations to come.”

Once complete, the new emergency department will be almost three times the size of the current one. It will include 49 treatment spaces (up from 31), two trauma bays located beside the ambulance entrance (where those with life-threatening injuries are quickly assessed and treated), and a dedicated space to meet the unique needs of mental health and substance use patients who need a quiet place while awaiting treatment.

An MRI suite with a $4 million MRI machine will also be added, a first for the Langley Memorial Hospital.

“We are one of the last hospitals in the Fraser Health Authority region to get an MRI machine,” Terra explained. “Currently, our patients all go to Abbotsford or Surrey, or even further, to get their MRI scans done, and have an average wait of about 18 months or more, so this is a long overdue need.”

Within the first 12 months of the new MRI machine’s operation, approximately 7,500 scans will be performed, helping to cut down wait times and take some pressure off of MRI suites in neighbouring communities.

Construction of the new emergency department and MRI suite began earlier this year and is scheduled to be completed in early 2021.

Qualico’s contribution to this important project is just one example among many throughout the ongoing partnership between the company and the Langley Memorial Hospital Foundation.

Qualico has also been a gold sponsor for the foundation’s annual fundraising gala and their signature golf tournament for several years. Funds raised through this year’s old Hollywood-themed gala event also went towards the emergency department campaign.

Funds from the golf tournament are normally used for the hospital’s most urgent needs each year. For the 2019 tournament held in September, funds raised will go towards purchasing cancer-detecting tools and equipment for the hospital’s endoscopy clinic.

“Qualico has a long history of supporting health care in the communities that they build in and where their employees live,” Terra said. “We are honoured to be a trusted partner in their philanthropic goals to improve the health and quality of life for everyone in this community. Their ongoing commitment allows us to improve care and treatment throughout the entire hospital.”