Is It A Trauma Center Or A Coffee Shop?
Tim Horton’s is a large franchise operation that runs about 3,750 coffee shops / restaurants in the US and Canada. Some of these franchises are located inside other establishments, such as hospitals. The outlet in the Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada is one such location, and it did double duty last month. Royal Columbian is the region’s trauma centre.
Due to a large number of patients being treated in the ED and some fly-ins from earlier in the day, the coffee shop was cleaned and converted to overflow for patient care. Six stretchers with privacy screens were set up and four patients were treated in the area. This situation lasted for about 90 minutes until the overcrowding eased. The shop was cleaned once again and ready to open normally the next morning, serving coffee, not patients.
Reference: BC Local News (www.bclocalnews.com)
