New transitional unit takes pressure off hospitals: minister
Archbishop Lawrence Huculak held a Bible and prayed as he blessed all 26 rooms of a new transitional unit in a Ukrainian Catholic personal care home in Winnipeg's North End.
The Sister Innocentia Baraniuk interim unit, in the refurbished northern wing of the Holy Family Home at 165 Aberdeen Ave., was expected to welcome its first patients Wednesday morning.
The unit will provide temporary accommodation for seniors who are transitioning out of hospital, but continue to need enhanced care before they can get into a personal care home.
TYLER SEARLE / FREE PRESS
Archbishop Lawrence Huculak, head of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy in Manitoba, blesses a room before the opening of the Sister Innocentia Baraniuk interim unit in the refurbished northern wing of the Holy Family Home at 165 Arberdeen Ave.
The unit came online as Manitoba grapples with prolonged wait times and a lack of beds in hospitals and care homes.
'One of the biggest drivers of emergency wait room times is the availability of beds, and so often, older adults — seniors — who are waiting for a spot in their personal care home of choice are left to languish in beds for far too long.' Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said.
'These new beds offer a safe and comfortable space for patients to receive care while they wait.'
The province spent $1.9 million in capital funding to renovate the outdated ward at the 317-bed facility. The addition means the number of transitional beds introduced by the government has reached 82 — above the 68 rooms pledged by the New Democrats in August 2024.
Asagwara expressed hope the new space might provide opportunity for some seniors to better recover from their hospital stay, and potentially return home.
Others will be afforded enhanced dignity and care before moving on to permanent long-term care, the minister said.
The rooms are furnished with a hospital bed, television, closet and a shared bathroom. Nearly all are designed for individual patients, with the exception of a handful of larger rooms that have two beds, said Dr. Mark Karpa, board chair man at Holy Family.
He said the facility has staff and equipment to fill the rooms.
'We're looking forward to the 26 new residents that will be joining our family here,' Karpa said.
The funding covered the cost of a new nursing station; a tub and shower room; enhanced security cameras, alert systems and sprinklers; and a slate of cosmetic and safety upgrades.
The unit features a communal area for patients to socialize and share meals.
Staff at Holy Family will regularly assess and prepare a care plan for each patient, said Laurel Rose, executive director of health services with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority Continuing Care.
The length of time in which a patient stays in the unit will be based on their needs, and the capacity of the health-care system at large, she said.
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'We expect there to be a relatively robust amount of flow through the unit,' she said.
Asagwara anticipated the rooms will immediately benefit the health system. The minister pointed to 15 new beds that opened last year at the Interlake-Eastern Health Services facility in Selkirk.
'We saw the impact pretty much right away, in terms of taking pressure off of the emergency room at Selkirk Regional Health Centre,' Asagwara said.
'This is one piece of a pretty big puzzle… It's going to take us years to really, meaningfully move this big ship in a different direction, but we're actually starting to see that ship turn.'
tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca
Tyler SearleReporter
Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press's city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic's creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.
Every piece of reporting Tyler produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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