VCH creates more accessible parking at Squamish General Hospital

Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) has recently increased the accessible parking at Squamish General Hospital (SGH) from two to five spots. The parking area has been levelled, and a crosswalk has been painted from the parking area to the hospital.

D’Arcy McCrea, a VCH Community Engagement Advisory Network volunteer and patient advisor, worked on the accessible parking issue with VCH for more than a year, along with Mike Haley, who brought up the issue of accessible parking at SGH at a meeting of disability advocates.

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“The community loves it. The accessible parking is being used by those who need it. It’s fabulous,” says McCrea. I just wanted to give something back to the healthcare system. I had two ruptured aneurysms, and I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for B.C. health care.”

VCH Coastal Director Heidi Butler says construction for the spots took about a month, as VCH pivoted from the original parking plan to reallocate funds towards creating additional accessible spaces. Victoria Morris-Ott, whose husband, Frank Manuel, has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and is in a power wheelchair, says the new parking makes a big difference in her life.

“Oh my heavens, it’s so much easier,” she says. “What I had to do previously was drop him at the front, put my flashers on, and get him settled – then go back and find a parking spot. I couldn’t open my ramp on the incline of the previous parking spots. It’s much safer. I do appreciate how they got on this so quickly.”

According to the BC Government, approximately 46,000 people in B.C. use a wheelchair or scooter and 20.5% of British Columbians between the ages of 15 and 64 live with a disability.  This work is just one of the many steps VCH says it is taking to become increasingly inclusive and to remove and prevent barriers to accessibility.

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