NDP promises $2.4 million to expand access to sexual assault care, hire nurses

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/09/2023 (712 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The New Democrats vowed to expand access to sexual assault care in Manitoba, while the Tories pledged to expand private liquor sales as parties returned to the campaign trail Sunday.

The NDP announced, if elected Oct. 3, it would create a provincial strategy and add seven full-time equivalent sexual assault nurse examiner positions to ensure care is available 24-7 in Winnipeg and some rural and northern communities.

“The needs of survivors are not being met,” claimed Union Station candidate Uzoma Asagwara. “We know that people are leaving without being seen. We know that equitable access to this care is not happening across Manitoba.”

The NDP said it would spend $2.4 million per year on the SANE positions and capital improvements, including upgrades to a waiting room at Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg.

The strategy would take a “no wrong doors” approach to ensure survivors can receive care in settings where they feel most comfortable, Asagwara promised.

Indigenous organizations and leaders would be consulted to help provide culturally appropriate wraparound care, said Nahanni Fontaine, the NDP’s candidate in St. Johns.

Fontaine said some women and girls from northern or rural Manitoba are forced to travel to Winnipeg for care due to a lack of services in or near their communities.

“This lack of proximity often prevents many women from seeking that essential forensic care that they require,” she said.

While in government in April, the Tories announced $640,000 annually to hire five more nurses and expand the SANE program to Brandon, The Pas and Thompson.

The SANE program at HSC suffered a series of resignations prior to April. Nurses who left had said there were gaps in coverage because of a pre-existing staff shortage, and their suggestions to improve care were ignored.

A spokesman for Shared Health, which operates HSC, said a provincial sexual assault and intimate partner violence program provides forensic examination and follow-up support to survivors in a hospital setting.

Organizations such as Klinic and Ka Ni Kanichihk are developing a community program.

As of April, pre-pubescent patients are seen exclusively by physicians within a child protection centre, the spokesman said.

He said all other patients get care through the SA/IPV program, which has 5.2 FTE permanent nursing staff, plus physicians and nurse practitioners who are casual.

At least two forensic nurses have joined in permanent or casual roles in recent months.

The program was largely reliant on on-call and casual staff before April, according to Shared Health.

The spokesman said there were zero gaps in coverage in September.

The authority is trying to fill vacant positions totalling 1.8 FTE.

Efforts to create a provincial service are in progress, said the spokesman, noting 15 nurses are enrolled in a 12-week forensic nurse training course.

PC spokesman Shannon Martin said the NDP voted against a provincial budget which included measures intended to ease staffing shortages.

Prior to the provincial election campaign, the Tory government announced a $400-million plan to add 2,000 health-care workers

Katie Stark, a sexual assault nurse examiner for 11 years, was among seven casual employees who left the HSC program in March.

She was among a group of nurses who supported the NDP’s announcement across from the former site of HSC’s women’s hospital.

“This plan has been a longtime dream of many,” said Stark. “It is one that has depth of care and has considered what Manitoba needs to truly empower and help survivors heal from sexual assault and intimate partner violence.”

NDP leader Wab Kinew, meanwhile, visited Thompson and other northern communities Sunday to make health-care and highway safety promises.

He pledged to restore birthing services in Norway House and Pimicikamak Cree nations, add an MRI machine at Thompson General Hospital and put more rest stops on Highway 6.

If elected, the PCs said they would reintroduce legislation to expand private liquor sales.

“To many Manitobans, this is a common sense policy,” said Kirkfield Park candidate Kevin Klein. “Manitobans, right now, go to other provinces and wonder why they have an easier time purchasing liquor there than they do right here at home. It’s time for expanded and convenient liquor sales in Manitoba.”

In April, the NDP blocked the Tory government’s attempt to expand private liquor sales to grocery and convenience stores under a pilot project.

Using the Costco Wholesale location on McGillivray Boulevard as a backdrop, Klein said the government would remain the province’s exclusive wholesaler of liquor, while claiming expanded private sales would help boost revenues.

The Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union spoke out against the proposal, while calling for more Liquor Mart Express stores.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Jen Zoratti | Next

Wednesdays

What's next in arts, life and pop culture.

Sign up for Jen Zoratti | Next

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

It claimed Manitoba would lose funds that currently go toward health care or other public services.

Liquor store employees represented by the MGEU held a weeks-long strike over the summer.

NDP spokeswoman Emily Coutts said the liquor pledge is an attempt by the Tories to distract from its health-care record.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @chriskitching

Chris Kitching
Reporter

Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris.

Every piece of reporting Chris 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.