Together, we can end diagnostic and surgical wait times at HSC

"At Canada Life, we recognize quality health care builds the foundation for strong communities. That’s why we’re proud to support the HSC Foundation’s capital campaign to develop surgical and diagnostic capacity. We invest in the development and expansion of innovative care at regional hospitals because we care about the well-being of Canadians."

— Stephanie Halligan, Manager, Community Relations, Canada Life

Your support will help HSC innovate, excel, and deliver tomorrow’s healthcare—today.

Learn more and donate at OperationExcellence.ca or call 204-515-5612 or toll-free at 1-800-679-8493.

Healthy for the Long Run

Kayla Krahn remembers her first run after surgery at Health Sciences Centre to remove a brain tumour in July 2022.

"I remember running down Highway 12. I must have the dorkiest grin on my face," says Steinbach resident and accomplished long-distance runner.

Krahn had been getting migraine headaches accompanied by aura symptoms. She wasn't too concerned because migraines run in her family. But the migraines became more frequent, and her vision became increasingly impaired. Her symptoms worsened and included dizziness and numbness on one side of her body. So, she went to her GP, then an optometrist, then an ophthalmologist. The ophthalmologist suggested she go to the Emergency Department at HSC because there was fluid at the back of her brain pushing on the optic nerves.

"HSC took a CT scan and the doctor knelt down beside me," recalls Krahn.

Together, we can end diagnostic and surgical wait times at HSC

"With your support, HSC’s talented and committed staff can deliver improved patient outcomes. By funding better equipment and better spaces, Operation Excellence donors can ensure that Manitobans get more timely surgical care so they can get back to living their best lives as soon as possible."

— Margaret and John Proven, Operation Excellence Donors

Your support will help HSC innovate, excel, and deliver tomorrow's healthcare—today.Learn more and donate at OperationExcellence.ca or call 204-515-5612 or toll-free at 1-800-679-8493.

Cypher Environmental blazes trail to success

A local Winnipeg company that offers eco-friendly road management solutions is leaving its competition in the dust.

Cypher Environmental provides clean-tech products for dust control and road stabilization that are biodegradable, non-corrosive and non-toxic.

The company’s fully proprietary concentrated liquid DUST/BLOKR® creates a semi-soluble blanket over the road’s surface that performs well in wet weather and requires less frequent reapplication than more commonly used but harmful road salts. The product is non-toxic, non-corrosive and fully biodegradable – this means that in addition to being eco-friendly, its use won’t corrode vehicles or other equipment.

Another popular product is the company’s ROAD//STABILIZR® which increases density and enhances stability of soil with high clay content.

HSC Foundation Donors Fund Improvements for Women’s Health

HSC gynecologist Dr. Margaret Burnett recently treated a patient who was seven weeks pregnant and had experienced some worrisome spotting. An emergency ultrasound showed that she had a tubal pregnancy, meaning that the fertilized egg implanted itself in one of her fallopian tubes instead of the womb.

“Her tubal pregnancy could have burst and caused life-threatening internal bleeding,” says Dr. Burnett.

Fortunately, HSC’s new, donor-funded laparoscopic equipment was up and running. Dr. Burnett performed a minimally invasive procedure that saved the patient’s life. Laparoscopic surgery requires only small incisions in the abdomen. The surgeon inserts a camera and views her work on a high-definition monitor.

“The patient went home the next day to recover and cope with the loss of her pregnancy in the company of loved ones,” says Dr. Burnett. “Without this upgraded equipment, we likely would have had to perform an open surgery which would have meant a longer hospital stay, more post-operative pain, more blood loss, and a higher risk of complications.”

Empowering Safe Sport

In the dynamic realm of sport, ensuring a safe and welcoming environment is paramount. Sport Manitoba, in collaboration with Generation Safe led by Allison Forsyth, is addressing safe sport through a series of webinars on April 10, 17, and 24. The Sport Manitoba Safe Sport Summit in collaboration with Sport Law and True Sport, held in person on May 3 and 4 will follow, and is an opportunity for participants to learn, discuss current topics, and ensure leaders in the province’s sport system have the knowledge and the tools to provide quality sport experiences to all Manitobans.

Safe Sport Webinars

The webinars offer tailored insights for different audiences. On April 10, provincial and community sport organizations will be guided through safe sport practices. April 17 caters to coaches and officials, equipping them with the knowledge to understand the safe sport landscape, how they are protected, what forms of maltreatment exist, and how to be mindful of ingrained behaviours. On April 24, athletes and parents gain invaluable insights into safe sport awareness, how they deserve to be treated, and setting expectations.

Sport Manitoba Safe Sport Summit 

Champion Child from remote northern community shares story of hope

It’s always special when kids share their health stories to inspire the community to #GiveBetterFutures for families who need HSC Children’s Hospital, and the 2024 Champion Child has been chosen to represent over 140,000 children who rely on our hospital annually.

Meet Janessa Colomb, a brilliant, thoughtful and talented individual with a meaningful story to share. She will join the family of past Champions who raise awareness for our Children’s Hospital locally and at a national and international level through the Children’s Miracle Network program.

Janessa lives in Pukatawagan, a First Nations community north of The Pas and 780 km from Winnipeg, but has spent a lot of her young life at HSC Children’s.

Starting at age five, Janessa began having reoccurring urinary tract infections. Her parents took her to The Pas Hospital and then she was referred to HSC Children’s where specialists determined Janessa’s kidneys weren’t functioning properly; one was small, and the other was diseased.

Diverse. Inclusive. Manitoba.

In partnership with We Heart Winnipeg and a local teen artist, the Children’s Rehabilitation Foundation has created a special limited-edition clothing line.

Georgia’s personality and imagination flourishes through her art. Last summer, this aspiring creative talent attended a camp offered by the Rehabilitation Centre for Children. Her artistic abilities captured the attention of fellow campers and staff. It was evident her passion provided an outlet for comfort, stability and belonging.

The Foundation was inspired by Georgia and asked her to design what it means to her to BELONG. The artwork elements represent her journey and unique perspective. When she was diagnosed with autism, she was told everyone is a star in their own way. The moon symbolizes change and light that brightens the dark. And the Manitoba flowers reflect caring, resilience and growth.

Georgia is amazing and we are honoured to highlight her incredible talent within our province.

Uncovering Truths About Mining

Mining is one of our province’s best kept secrets — most people know little about the modern mines operating today. But Manitoba’s mining industry is a big deal.

“We've been blessed with these world-renowned deposits like the Thompson nickel belt, along with lithium, copper, and gold,” says Stacy Kennedy, President of the Mining Association of Manitoba Inc. (MAMI) and Director of Manitoba Operations for Vale in Thompson.

The province is poised to be a global industry leader, with known occurrences of 29 of the 31 critical minerals identified by Natural Resources Canada as essential to global economic security and stability.

What does that mean? Scott Anderson, Vice-President, Exploration for 1911 Gold Corporation, explains.

Rossbrook House: A Safe Place to Belong, Play, Learn and Become…

Imagine walking into a building you’ve never been inside before. You are only six years old and have walked here from school. Or you are 12 and a friend tells you about this place they go to sometimes… You walk inside and there are other children like you, running, playing, talking… and then you hear ‘welcome to Rossbrook House, what’s your name?’.

“I was about 11 years old when I first walked into Rossbrook House, and it changed my life in so many ways,” Asher, a regular participant, recalls about his first time at the drop-in centre, 4 years ago. “It was a hot summer day, me and my friend were just trying to find a cool place to hang out and then he said, ‘I know a place down the street’. And from the moment I walked in, it just felt like home.”

Today, Asher is one of the members of the LET Youth program (aka Junior Staff), an employment program that Rossbrook House offers to youth who are regular participants. Junior Staff work with the younger children during programming, at events and in the kitchen. They also often share their stories.

Sharing Our Stories

Discover inspiration for your home and backyard this spring at the Winnipeg Home + Garden Show

Winnipeg, get ready! This spring, the Winnipeg Home + Garden Show returns to the RBC Convention Centre from April 4-7, 2024. This event is jam-packed with all the tools you need to get your home – indoors and out – ready for warmer weather. From celebrity guest speakers to local experts to hundreds of top home and garden companies, you are sure to find valuable advice and inspiration for your next project.

Get expert advice

Mark your calendars! Winnipeg favourite Bryan Baeumler from HGTV Canada is back. He’ll be sharing advice and behind-the-scenes insight from his hit TV show Island of Bryan on The Inland Fine Furnishings Stage, presented by HGTV Canada, on Friday, April 5th at 6pm and Saturday, April 6th at 1pm.

Also returning to Winnipeg is professional organizer Megan Goligthly of Simplified, presented by Signature Cleaning Services. The popular decluttering influencer has a dedicated audience on Instagram where she shares home organization advice. She'll be at the Show bringing her insights to Winnipeggers on Saturday, April 6th at 5:30pm and Sunday, April 7th at noon.

Congrats to the new nurses

A group of Indigenous nursing graduates is off to a healthy start in their careers thanks to an innovative partnership program.

First Peoples Development Inc. (FPDI) teamed up with Assiniboine Community College (ACC) to offer a two-year practical nursing diploma program that ran from April 2022 to February 2024.

The first nine licensed practical nursing graduates received their diplomas on Feb. 16 in a celebratory ceremony and lunch held at the Viscount Gort. Friends and families gathered to cheer on the new nurses, who are members of eight different First Nation communities.

At the same time, the graduates heard congratulatory messages from provincial cabinet ministers as well as representatives from the partnering organizations. Elder Valdie Seymour offered prayers, and FPDI board president Ethel Anderson delivered opening remarks.

Manitoba farmers explore the value of digital farming

In recent years, Manitoba farmers have seen a wide range of changes, whether that be due to increasing challenges with weather, changing landscapes, economic uncertainties or managing knowledge transfer between generations of farmers. One of the biggest, and arguably most impactful, changes in modern farming has been in the adoption of digital ag technology and use of on-farm data. With precision farming tools, farmers are now able to make better, more informed decisions to obtain the best crop output and yield through data-driven insights.

With digital platforms, farmers can use on-farm, real-time data to make decisions easier, earlier, and more confidently. Data utilized in tools like this give farmers a deeper understanding of their fields so they can make more informed operating decisions to optimize yields, maximize efficiency and reduce risk.

Crystal City Manitoba farm dealer, Jack Carels embraced FieldViewTM , the flagship digital farming product from Bayer, to help farms he works with to better capture and utilize data, and make more informed recommendations with tools like seeding maps and spray layers. This data has been especially useful for trials and looking back at the end of the season. “FieldView has made trial data capture so much easier, whether they are on purpose or not,” said Carels. “At harvest, when everything’s going nuts, it’s too hard to be everywhere at once. I’ve found that there’s so much analytics to be done after the fact and finding out what that mistake cost or maybe in some cases actually benefitted.”

Riley Anderson, a farmer from Morris Manitoba has also found using FieldView for trials to be valuable in determining which product might enable better ROI. “One cool thing we did is demoed about four high-speed disks and mapped it with FieldView”, said Anderson. “I’m hoping to see a difference between them and see which one agronomically makes me more money, and that’s something that isn’t really talked about too much.”

Botanical PaperWorks grows from the ground up

Entrepreneurship wasn’t on Heidi Reimer-Epp’s mind when she started her career. Having graduated from the Asper School of Business, Heidi was working in manufacturing and planning her wedding when the inspiration for her company came about.

Her mom, a teacher at the time, had been recycling her students’ waste paper into handmade paper.

“Kids would take a piece of paper, write something on it, and then throw it into the garbage,” says Reimer-Epp, adding that this predated the widespread recycling programs available today. “It pained her to see that waste.”

While the recycled paper made for beautiful keepsakes for the students, who would use it to write stories and poems, it was at Reimer-Epp’s wedding that people really took notice of her mom’s crafting skills.

Manitoba Tech Week: An Iconic Manitoba Celebration in the Making

Manitoba companies will be touting the tech and innovation that makes them tick from February 26th through March 3rd during the first-ever Manitoba Tech Week. Promising something for everyone, Manitoba Tech Week offers workshops, networking, speakers and events to connect tech enthusiasts and experts while highlighting the role technology plays in Manitoba’s economy. Highlights of the schedule include a cybersecurity-themed escape room, a fabrication lab open house, an in-person event with Bill Nye the Science Guy, and the Manitoba Tech Awards.

“It's a way to bring Manitobans together with companies operating in this exciting space, who are growing their companies here, to get information straight from the source” says Tech Manitoba’s CEO, Kelly Fournel. “Tech Week is meant to be a movement that showcases the broad category of tech companies in Manitoba, and to highlight the diverse education and career options that will serve you well in a tech company, but also in every traditional industry that now has a greater reliance on technology, too. It’s a fun way to let Manitobans know that we've got really innovative organizations here, which are vital to Manitoba’s future.”

There’s an opportunity on the table, explains Fournel, for Manitoba to consider how might innovation and technology support the achievement of our priorities. What skills do we need to support digital transformations underway in our sectors? Are students graduating with foundational digital literacy skills? How do we strategically support our existing employees to upskill, so they may transition to supporting emerging needs within their organizations, and not get left behind? No matter where you live, or what job you do, technology adoption is happening or will happen at greater scale very soon. Let’s be strategic about it, to ensure all Manitobans can benefit from the knowledge economy.

“We’re raising the profile of the role that innovation, upskilling and tech adoption can play for businesses here in Manitoba and [let them know] that they don't have to do it alone,” says Fournel. “They have expertise here in Manitoba that they can tap into, so businesses of any size can figure out what's best for their company, their employees, and find success because they figured out how digital adoption and employee training support enhanced performance.”