Manitoban violinist Ehnes among Juno winners

Steinbach ER nurses ask for triage help as wait-averse Winnipeg patients strain hospital capacity

Nurses at Bethesda Regional Health Centre in Steinbach have called on the regional health authority and provincial government to hire an extra triage nurse for the emergency department as increased visits from Winnipeggers stress the rural hospital.

Forty nurses from the hospital’s emergency department signed an open letter stating because of the current staffing ratio, nurses are witnessing “excessive and unacceptable safety risks on a daily basis.”

“(Nurses) constantly fear for the safety of our patients and community,” said the July 28 letter, addressed to Premier Wab Kinew, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara, Southern Health-Sante Sud interim CEO Dana Human and the health authority’s board chair, Adam Monteith.

It is common for patients at the hospital to wait more than an hour before being seen by a triage nurse after they arrive, and eight hours before their conditions are reassessed, the letter states, adding the emergency department’s sole triage nurse can be responsible for up to 30 patients at a time.

Bell sheds 19 more Manitoba employees

At least 19 Manitoba jobs were lost recently during Bell Canada’s ongoing restructuring.

Parent company BCE Inc. confirmed in June it’d axe nearly 700 jobs through organizational changes. Those changes began last year.

A dozen Manitoba staff were laid off on July 30, according to Team-IFPTE Local 161, the union representing the workers.

Another seven union members left voluntarily though a departure program, the union reported Tuesday.

Central remains toughest division in league

With NHL training camps set to open in just over five weeks’ time, the Central Division still looks like one of the toughest places to earn a playoff spot in the league.

With three of the top seven teams in the NHL standings last season residing within it — including the Presidents’ Trophy winning Colorado Avalanche (121 points) — it’s clear that the most likely path back to the Stanley Cup playoffs for the Winnipeg Jets is by earning one of the two wild-card berths available in the Western Conference.

And since a couple of teams in the Pacific Division are on the rise, including the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks (who missed the playoffs by four points in Macklin Celebrini’s second NHL season), it’s likely going to take north of 90 or 92 points to punch a post-season ticket.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the moves that were made in the Central, realizing there are a few questions left unanswered for the Jets and the seven other clubs:

Concordia doctor denies responsibility for Calgary man’s permanent disability

A Concordia Hospital doctor accused in a negligence lawsuit after a Calgary man was left permanently disabled when he was given a massive overdose of a powerful sedative has denied she ordered he be given the drug.

Zachary Hoogerdyk’s father, Edward Hoogerdyk, and the Alberta government filed their statement of claim earlier this year in Court of King’s Bench naming the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, provincial health agency Shared Health, Concordia Hospital, Dr. Anna Ziomek and two other hospital staff as defendants.

Hoogerdyk, who was 23 at the time, went to Concordia’s urgent-care centre with flu-like symptoms and worsening breathing difficulties on March 25, 2024 while he was in Winnipeg on business and to visit family, the lawsuit says.

The claim alleges Ziomek diagnosed Hoogerdyk with low levels of oxygen in his blood and a strain of the flu, before ordering him to be intubated.

What’s open, what’s closed, what’s up in Winnipeg on Terry Fox Day

The first Monday in August marks Terry Fox Day in Manitoba, honouring the legendary Canadian who was born in Winnipeg in 1958.