PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
For immediate release
05 May 2010
Help us celebrate Women’s Hospital’s 60th Anniversary!
When most Winnipeggers think about the flood of 1950, they don’t think about mums and babies. But we do! The Maternity Pavilion of Winnipeg General Hospital, now HSC’s Women’s Hospital, welcomed its first patients on May 6, 1950, as the rising Red River forced the evacuation of hospitals and communities across Manitoba.
In honour of our 60th anniversary year, we're looking for a flood of stories that celebrate women's healthcare in Manitoba from the past to the present.
We'd love to hear from families, children and former staff of Women’s Hospital about what made your experience memorable.
Please visit www.ThanksHSC.com to share your story.
This message is brought to you by the Health Sciences Centre Foundation and HSC, an operating division of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.
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For more information, please contact
Kat Washchyshyn
Director, Communications
204.787.7934
Lorie Mayer
Communications Coordinator
204.787.1108
Courtesy of Winnipeg Free Press - March 25, 2010
PREGNANT women who give birth to critically ill babies will no longer be separated by a half-kilometre divide when a new state-of-the-art hospital is built.
Provincial officials tore down the first few bricks from the former Weston Bakery on Elgin Avenue Wednesday to make way for construction of the new Women's Hospital slated to open in 2014. The 300,000-square-foot facility will replace the current 60-year-old hospital that health officials say is outdated and does not meet the needs of Manitoba women.
Dr. Maggie Morris, medical director of Women's Health Program at HSC, said the current site is too small and separates women who've undergone emergency C-sections from their newborns. The neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is about 500 metres from the current Women's Hospital, meaning babies born in distress need to be transported with the help of a support team.
Morris said incorporating the NICU into the new hospital will allow new moms to easily visit their babies and more private rooms will decrease the likelihood that women will acquire or spread infections.
"It made sense in 1950, but it makes no sense anymore," Morris said of the current design.
The current Women's Hospital was deliberately located away from other hospital buildings following a 1936 epidemic of childbed fever. It was built to handle 2,000 births a year but now sees closer to 5,000.
Health Minister Theresa Oswald called the new hospital a "critically important step" in improving maternal care. The new building will include more private rooms.
"We will have moms and babies in close proximity," Oswald said. "It's about access and choice."
The demolition kickoff comes two months after the province announced plans for a $3.5-million birth centre in St. Vital. The facility will be able to handle up to 500 births a year and is scheduled to open in 2011.
The province has also pledged $1.1 million to address the recommendations in a maternal health task force report, including more prenatal and post-natal care for First Nations moms and babies, and expanded Telehealth links between experts in Winnipeg and doctors in outlying regions.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 25, 2010