The Wrap: Chaos at the Grace, crime at inner-city churches, a shot-blocking Jet and a new shop for Indigenous wares

A Winnipegger inside the chaos at Grace Hospital has provided the Free Press with a snapshot of the miserable, undignified and, at times, hopeless situation inside the emergency department.

Patients in various levels of distress are parked on stretchers in jam-packed hallways. Health-care workers appear exhausted, weighed down, knowing they’ll never catch up or have the time to care for patients the way they’d like to.

The Grace isn’t alone, with high volumes across inpatient units impacting patient flow and blocking treatment spaces in emergency departments until those patients can be admitted to a unit.

 

Several churches in Winnipeg’s Point Douglas neighbourhood are struggling to deal with crime and social issues that leave parishoners feeling unsafe and affect the organizations’ bottom lines.

Churches in the area have been dealing with burglaries, vandalism, illegally dumped trash, homeless encampments, and damage caused by fires — some causing small congregations thousands of dollars to deal with.

 

The Winnipeg Jets’ Dylan Samberg was a puck magnet last week against Nashville.

He blocked the puck nine times that game —with no other player on the Jets recording more than a single block in a 6-3 victory over the Predators.

“Pretty much just pray to God it hits you, and pray to God it hits you in a good spot and doesn’t hurt,” Samberg says. “That’s pretty much all that’s going through your head.”

 

Shauna Fontaine opened Anishinaabe Girl at 165 Lilac St. on Tuesday. It’s a way to spotlight her clothes and accessories alongside other Indigenous entrepreneurs.

Buying Indigenous-made items supports economic reconciliation regardless of the wearer’s ethnicity, Fontaine says.