Fraser Health
Fraser Health is one of six publicly funded health care Regions into which the Canadian province of British Columbia is divided.
History
Fraser Health was created in December 2002 as part of a province-wide restructuring of health authorities by the new government of Premier Gordon Campbell. It merged three former health regions: Simon Fraser Health Region (SFHR), South Fraser Health Region and the Fraser Valley Health Region (FVHR).
SFHR had been formed in 1996 by the merger of The Fraser-Burrard Hospital Society (Royal Columbian Hospital, Eagle Ridge Hospital and Ridge Meadows Hospital) with the Burnaby Health Region (Burnaby Hospital) and the extended care facilities operated by the Pacific Health Care Society (Queen's Park Care Centre and Fellburn Care Centre).
It is governed by the provincial Health Authorities Act.
Demographics
It has 22,000 employees and serves the region from Boston Bar in the Fraser Canyon all the way down the Fraser River Valley to the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby. It is the largest health authority by population in British Columbia.[citation needed]
Three rapidly growing communities also included in Fraser Health are Abbotsford, Maple Ridge, and Surrey; all three are served by expanding community-focused acute-care hospitals and related services.
Fraser Health provides health care services for the following communities:
- Anmore
- Belcarra
- Burnaby
- Coquitlam
- New Westminster
- Surrey
- Delta
- District of Kent
- Maple Ridge
- Pitt Meadows
- Langley
- Abbotsford
- Mission
- Chilliwack
- Hope
- White Rock
- Port Coquitlam
- Port Moody
Facilities and Services
Services provided by Fraser Health include primary health care, community home care, mental health and addictions, acute medical, and surgical services.
Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre is new, having opened only in August 2008.
The Royal Columbian Hospital, located in the city of New Westminster, is the oldest hospital in British Columbia and one of Fraser Health's busiest[citation needed]. A major tertiary care facility known for trauma care, neurosurgery and open-heart surgery, the Royal Columbian Hospital has the only program capable of performing cardiac surgery for expectant women in the Province of British Columbia.
See also
Other Health Authorities in British Columbia:
- Interior Health
- Northern Health
- Provincial Health Services Authority
- Vancouver Coastal Health
- Vancouver Island Health Authority