Here’s a look at the ‘quieter, more private’ emergency department at Vancouver’s new St. Paul’s Hospital

When Vancouver resident Bonnie Quam found a lump 15 years ago, her family doctor told her to go to the emergency room at St. Paul’s Hospital.

She was terrified it was cancer and felt vulnerable having to discuss her intimate and painful health concerns in a crowded ER with other patients listening on the other side of a flimsy curtain.

Quam, now 77, was diagnosed with a serious infection that required several hospital visits and eventually surgery.

“I was mortified. It was so embarrassing to me because obviously both of the patients could hear exactly what was going on, and because of the location of the infection, and it had to be discussed … they could hear my discomfort,” said Quam.

“It wasn’t that the care wasn’t compassionate, but the way that things were configured in the ER, it just didn’t allow for my personal privacy, and it became another burden.”

She wrote to the hospital to share her concerns about patient privacy.

Providence Health Care, which runs the hospital, listened.

When the new St. Paul’s Hospital opens next year, it will have a quieter, more-private emergency department that doctors say could change the model for urgent care.

St. Paul’s Foundation released photos Tuesday of the new department, as it launched a campaign to raise the remaining $40 million of a $213 million commitment.

Instead of curtains dividing stretchers, there will be 70 treatment spaces with walls and sliding glass doors. Instead of one chaotic emergency room, the department will be divided into four zones, including a dedicated mental health zone.

Each zone will function as a dedicated mini-emergency room, with physicians, nurses and interdisciplinary care teams working together to care for patients in that zone.

Dr. Spencer Heffernan, an emergency physician at St. Paul’s, said this model will provide more privacy for patients, leading to a calmer experience for both patients and staff.

Patients will be treated in the zone they are assigned to, and won’t be moved to different zones.

“I’m very excited for that change because a lot of the patients coming through are telling you very sensitive stories on a very difficult day in their lives, and this will give them a much more private space, a much more dignified experience coming to the emergency department,” Heffernan said.

“I think it’s going to allow for more comfortable conversations with these patients who are struggling.”

Instead of one big waiting room full of sick patients, each zone will have its own waiting room.

Sheila Biggers, president of St. Paul’s Foundation, said more than $170 million has been raised to help with construction, diagnostic equipment and research labs. But there’s a $40 million shortfall. If the money can’t be raised, the hospital will still open but the foundation will have to make tough decisions about equipment.