St. B first Canadian hospital to install free vending machine with HIV tests, naloxone kits, condoms

A free vending machine with HIV tests, hard-reduction equipment, sexual health products and naloxone kits has been installed at St. Boniface Hospital, the first of its kind in a Canadian hospital.

The machine, called Our Healthbox, was available to the public Wednesday.

“This is meant to provide supports to those who need them,” said Katarina Lee-Ameduri, director of ethics at St. Boniface Hospital. “I think it’s very important, I think it’s going to be very much utilized.”

Dr. Sean Rourke, who works with the organization that created the boxes at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, said the machine helps people while giving them their privacy.

“It allows people to get what they need to cure their health in a low barrier way, that is without judgment and stigma,” said Rourke. “(It) allows people to get what they need when they need it, from a self-test to test for HIV, to a naloxone kit to save someone’s life.”

Lee-Ameduri said along with naloxone kits, condoms and other other common medical equipment, the box in St. Boniface will include snacks, like granola bars and juice boxes. It will also have seasonal items, like mittens in the winter and sunscreen in the summer.

“An extra pair of socks or an extra pair of underwear makes a significant impact to a person,” Lee-Ameduri said. “Just allows them to have that self-care component that they might not be able to afford.”

The box is located in the hospital’s basement next to Robin’s Donuts. Products other than food are dispensed in discreet packaging. The box will be moved to a vestibule beside other vending machines around September, when construction of that section of the hospital is complete.

Certain items in the box — like needles — come with information on how to safely use. A map will also pop up on the machine to direct users to resources connected to the items.

Users are asked to make a profile, which includes picking a favourite colour and animal and selecting a year of birth. Several other optional questions, like race and employment status, are also asked.

The box also asks why a user is taking the selected item, who it’s for, and how often the item is needed. Those questions are also optional.

Data is collected to see what items are being dispensed but it doesn’t record by which user.

Lee-Ameduri said the questions are asked so researchers and doctors can understand what’s important for users, and why certain items are being taken. She said it’s important to understand what communities need, and where future boxes might be needed.

The 11 other boxes, at clinics, community centres, churches and pharmacies around the country, have helped 9,463 people and provided 1,160 HIV self-test kits and 2,125 naloxone kits since the project kicked off two years ago.

The first box in Winnipeg, at NorWest Co-op Community Health on Keewatin Street, which opened in March 2024, has given out items to 2,253 people — the most of any box — and has provided 204 HIV self-test kits, and 344 naloxone kits.

“We are meeting community needs … I think it’s just showing a positive (impact), we’re positively meeting their needs,” said Tammy Nasuti, chronic disease coordinator at NorWest Co-op Community Health.

She said the box has had a positive impact because people can use it discreetly without asking for something in person.

“I think it’s helping people who might be scared to ask (an employee) or feel judged for some of the choices that they might want to make,” she said.

As of 2023, Manitoba’s HIV rate was 19.3 people per 100,000, the second highest rate in Canada, only trailing Saskatchewan’s 19.4. The national average is 6.1 cases per 100,000 people. There were 280 new cases in Manitoba that year, compared to 199 in 2022.

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca