It's done.
The Humboldt District Health Complex has been officially opened.
Employees of the Humboldt District Hospital were buzzing around the facility in the days before April 1, making last-minute preparations before it was unveiled to the public. They were excited, and happy. And so was the public, it seemed, when they walked through the doors.
"Wow" was a word heard a lot during the official opening ceremonies. For those who hadn't had a chance to tour the facility before the opening, who watched it being built from the outside, had a hard time, it seemed, taking it all in once they got through those doors.
It's come a long way, after all, from its humble beginnings as a piece of empty land and a sign announcing "This is where the new hospital will someday sit."
That complex has been a long time coming, for everyone, but especially for local health care staff.
And those are the people who have an even more challenging project ahead than preparing the new complex for public tours. They have to look after the move.
From the outside, it may appear to some that it's simple to orchestrate this move. It's like moving your stuff from one house to another, right? You pack up some boxes, head over to your new place, and unpack your stuff.
But how often, as we move ourselves and our stuff, do we forget where we put important things, like toilet paper? Or the coffee pot? Moving is always more complicated than we remember, and something usually gets screwed up along the way. But that's okay - usually, lives aren't usually depending on our household moves going off without a hitch.
Moving a hospital, on the other hand, cannot be haphazard. It has to be organized, orchestrated, synchronized. Because of the importance of the services the staff within that facility provide to the community, they have to figure out how to offer them even while moving equipment from the old place to the new. They can't just stop doing what they do, box everything up and send it over. Services have to be continued.
So how do you do that?
The answer to that question has been left up to some very dedicated people over at that hospital, people who have lived and breathed both construction of the new facility and, at the same time, orchestrating this move. They are looking after getting everyone out of the old place and into the new safely. They are ensuring that all the supplies necessary for the running of a hospital - which go far beyond toilet paper - are available as soon as the first patient walks in the door, and a million other things.
They have it in hand.
So what can we do to help?
We can not go to the emergency room on moving day unless it's a real emergency. We can not head over for routine lab work while the move is happening. We can be understanding. We can be accommodating. We can not further complicate the entire complicated process.
Because the hospital will not turn people away. That's not what they are about. If you go, they will take care of you. But maybe we can give the staff a break, if at all possible, while they are dealing with this huge move. We can try to ensure the move goes as smoothly as possible.
We will all benefit from that.
