The province says it’s making good on its promise to restore previously closed emergency rooms and add to restoration efforts at the Victoria Hospital with a world-class addictions treatment facility.
Premier Wab Kinew and Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara announced the changes at the hospital Wednesday, alongside sports broadcaster and Winnpegger Scott Oake, whose family helped to create the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre three years ago.
The Vic’s emergency room was shuttered in 2017 by the previous provincial government as an austerity measure. Kinew and the Manitoba NDP campaigned on improving the province’s health care and pledged a whopping $635 million to that end in 2024’s budget.
In addition to reopening the ER, the hospital’s Mature Women’s Centre — also closed in 2017 — is slated to reopen.
“We’re moving forward with the groundwork to return emergency care and mature women’s care to the Victoria Hospital because local care matters,” Asagwara said, “particularly when there’s an urgent medical need and time is of the essence.
“Residents of south Winnipeg will be able to have peace of mind knowing medical help is closer, plus this added capacity will take pressure off the entire system and help bring emergency wait times down.”
The province said construction on the ER will begin within two years, once staffing has been secured.
The new treatment centre — based on the success of the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre, which focuses on addiction treatment for men — is set to be a similar facility for women, named after Scott Oake’s late wife Anne, who died in 2021.
“Anne Oake spent her life caring for others,” he said. “This recovery centre will carry her values forward in delivering addictions care for women. It will offer wraparound supports, like child care, to reduce barriers to entry so every person can access the care they need.”
Oake said the Victoria Hospital’s long-standing reputation as a facility dedicated to women’s health made it a clear choice as a location for the new facility.