RUH announces plans for new dedicated four-bed epilepsy unit

Saskatoon’s Royal University Hospital (RUH) announced plans to create a newly dedicated four-bed epilepsy unit Monday afternoon.

The unit will be funded by the provincial government starting in 2020-21 with a total of $1.35 million annually.

The Royal University Hospital Foundation is hoping to fundraise $1.2 million in the next two years to cover the cost of capital and equipment.

Corey Miller, the Saskatchewan Health Authority’s vice-president of provincial programs, said the SHA has a unit set up now, but it’s a system that moves from room to room. This new project will offer a fully dedicated area for the disorder.

“Having a dedicated unit allows (patients) a higher quality of life, and privacy,” he said.

Currently, the tests for epilepsy take four to five days of monitoring.

Miller said the new unit will allow patients to go through their assessments in an area where they will be with others going through the same monitoring schedules.

“(It) allows them to have this type of an assessment done in a much more dignified way,” Miller said.

The new unit will have the latest and state-of-the-art technology to ensure patients receive the best care possible.

The unit will be in close conjunction with the neurological program at RUH.

Miller said the unit will be open in the 2020-21 year, depending on capital construction.

Approximately 10,500 people in Saskatchewan, including 700 children, live with the neurological disorder.