|
September 28, 2009 PROVINCE INVESTS $2 MILLION IN RENOVATIONS, EXPANSION OF MATERNITY SERVICES AT ST. BONIFACE HOSPITAL– – –Government Continues to Invest in New Era of Maternal and Child Care, Modernizing Obstetrics in Winnipeg, Enhancing Privacy for Women, Families: Oswald A $2-million renovation of the maternity ward and gynecological services at St. Boniface Hospital will give new mothers, their babies and their families more privacy and access to more modern obstetrical and gynecological facilities, Health Minister Theresa Oswald announced today.
“At such a private and personal time, it’s important for women, their new infants and their families to have a private space to bond in, to learn in and to become a family in,” said Oswald. “This project is a part of our new era of modernizing obstetrical and gynecological services in Winnipeg, ensuring women continue to have access to the quality care they need.”
The renovations will be undertaken in stages and will include:
· increasing the number of postpartum (after birth) maternity beds to 30 from 27;
· increasing the number of postpartum private maternity rooms to 23 from three; and
· relocating the gynecological in-patient unit, which will allow for the development of five additional private rooms.
“Over the past five years, obstetrical volume in the region has increased and this trend will continue,” said Jan Currie, vice-president of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA). “We want to ensure not only that we have the appropriate number of spaces to address that increase, but also that the spaces we have meet the needs that women have identified for us.”
“We are pleased to be proceeding with these renovations to our obstetrical and gynecology units,” said Michel Tétreault, president and CEO of St. Boniface Hospital. “The increase in beds and private rooms will allow St. Boniface to better accommodate the increasing volume in births and provide modern obstetrical and gynecological services to the women in our community. We are grateful to the WRHA and Manitoba Health for their support of the women’s health programs at St. Boniface.”
In the last decade, Manitoba has made a number of investments in maternal and child health-care services including:
· committing to redevelop the Women’s Hospital at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg;
· investing more than $28 million since 1999 in midwifery services including more midwifery positions and the establishment of a university degree program in midwifery delivered by the University College of the North;
· developing a birth centre in south Winnipeg; and
· investing more than $1 million to implement the initiatives identified by the Maternal and Child Health-care Services (MACHS) Task Force including projects that enhance and strengthen both primary care and prevention services by addressing gaps in current services, supporting access to services closer to home and addressing concerns about immunization levels and vitamin D deficiencies in some Manitoba children.
Construction at St. Boniface Hospital is expected to begin later this fall and be complete by the fall of 2010.
- 30 -
|
