It won't be accepting patients for another 17 days, but Penticton Regional Hospital's long-awaited David E Kampe Tower was the scene of a lot of pomp and pageantry - and a ribbon-cutting ceremony - this afternoon during its official opening ceremony.
Leading off the day's activities and acting as MC was Interior Health president Susan Brown, just one of more than a dozen speakers during the hour-long event.
Brown would ultimately hand off to the day's special guest, BC Minister of Health Adrian Dix, who started off strong, saying, "I'm fired up to be in Penticton."
"These are extraordinarily important places in the community, and what you've done here today, Mr Kampe and all of you, is to do this for the next 50 years. For the next generations," said Dix, who stopped often to recognize Tower contributors, health care workers at large, and other projects throughout the province.
Someone who didn't speak but was the rightful centre of attention throughout was David E Kampe, the man for whom the new tower is named. Kampe has been instrumental to the project, donating more than eight million dollars toward it.
Kampe sat quietly at the front of the room, acknowledging the many instances of applause - and a full-on standing ovation - directed his way.
Among the many familiar faces in the crowd was that of Penticton Regional Hospital Administrator Carl Meadows, who was seemingly smiling throughout.
"Today's the opportunity for the minister of health to come and open up our hospital, and it's really great to see all the people here that have had a part in making it happen."
Meadows was particularly upbeat over one of the tower's most recent additions, a series of black and white framed historical photographs that line the hallways. According to Meadows, they were "funded by a private donor."
Meadows confirmed that the first patients won't arrive until the 29th of April, and said that in the meantime, "we're cleaning and polishing and making sure everything's perfect. We're going to make it, and that makes me so happy."
Penticton Regional Hospital Chief of Staff Brad Raison told us the last few years and months have been "hectic," adding, "We've been waiting for this day since 2002."
Raison praised the state of the art MRI and nuclear medicine facilities, and reiterated that the hospital doesn't merely serve Penticton. "It's a South Okanagan Similkameen hospital. We go all the way to the border, and all the way to Princeton. We'll make good use of it. They (the patients) will too."
The event ended with a ribbon-cutting ceremony involving a couple dozen VIPs.
The David E. Kampe Tower is a six-storey, 25,582 square-meter patient care wing of the Penticton Regional Hospital with 84 private single-patient rooms, an ambulatory care centre, a surgical services suite, a rooftop helipad, and an adjacent 480-stall parkade.
A public open house goes tomorrow, April 13, from 1 to 4 p.m.
