X-rays, ultrasounds and CT’s will all be inside the new adult emergency room at Royal University Hospital once it opens this fall. Currently, patients have to be taken to other floors and rooms within the hospital to receive those services.

The new adult ER which is located in the new Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital will have 26 private rooms that have sliding doors with curtains inside and adjustable lighting and temperature options.

Lisa Collard who is the Director of Emergency for Saskatoon with the Saskatchewan Health Authority says people will notice the difference between the new ER and current one. “The colours, the sense of calm, bright open spaces, the privacy is such an improvement from what we have now.”

The new ER will have a triage where patients will enter and from there they’ll be directed to their appropriate space. Children will be taken down the hall to the Children’s Hospital ER, while adults will be directed to the new RUH ER. Joanna Smith with the SHA says it’s important to have the two emergency rooms separate as they want to provide the right care for the right patient.

A new ambulance bay which can house 4 ambulances at a time is also included in the new facility. The current ambulance bay can only accommodate two ambulances and the new one will have direct access to the trauma zone.

Over three years through the Greate.r campaign by the Royal University Hospital Foundation, $20 million dollars was raised to help build the new ER. The new RUH ER will house 42 patients, 1 more than the current one. Collard says they’re working daily to provide access to their patient care and to improve system flow.

Once the new ER opens in the fall, it will become the newest emergency room in Canada.