The provincial government announced on Tuesday June 11, 2019 that they will be building a dedicated acute stroke unit at Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg.
The 28 bed unit will serve stroke patients from across Manitoba in an effort to improve patient outcomes and shorten hospital stays.
“Research shows an acute stroke unit can reduce the likelihood of death and disability by as much as 30 per cent for men and women of any age with mild, moderate and severe strokes,” said Health, Seniors and Active Living Minister Cameron Friesen. “This new, centralized unit will help prevent stroke complications, reduce patient length of stay and improve the availability of acute care beds for other patients across our health system.”
Manitoba is the last province in the country to build a dedicated stroke unit.
About 2000 Manitobans suffer strokes annually.
“Acute stroke care has three windows of therapy including clot busting, clot removal and early intensive rehabilitation therapy,” said Dr. Perry Gray, provincial lead, medical specialist services and chief medical officer with Shared Health. “Clot busting is available in a number of emergency departments and hospitals across the province and clot removal is performed in specialized radiology suites located at HSC. However, Manitoba has been missing the third component until now. With the creation of an acute stroke unit, Manitoba stroke patients will have access to the full range of therapies required to maximize recovery.”
The new unit will be built in the current Women’s Pavilion at HSC. Construction will begin in December 2019 once the current programming, staff and equipment are moved to the new Women’s facility at HSC.
The province says the new unit will encompass about 18,400 square feet on the fourth and fifth floors of the Women’s Pavilion. Part of the upgrades will also include heating, ventilation, lighting, asbestos removal, new sprinklers, new elevators and an upgraded nurse call system.
The minister said that the cost of the project is subject to the tendering process.
