For information prior to 2009 please contact the Public Relations Office.

2009 News:

October 2, 2009
New Buhler Gallery Exhibition Opens
Perspectives: Robert Houle & Tim Schouten

September 28, 2009
Province Invests $2 Million in Rennovations, Expansion of Maternity Services at St. Boniface Hospital

September 16, 2009
Better for patient care and staff
St. Boniface Hospital opens new Emergency Triage Area

October 2, 2009

New Buhler Gallery Exhibition Opening
Perspectives: Robert Houle & Tim Schouten

Winnipeg -- The Buhler Gallery is pleased to announce its new exhibition Perspectives: Robert Houle & Tim Schouten, which opened Thursday, October 1, 2009, and runs until Sunday, January 17, 2010.

The exhibition features the work of Robert Houle and Tim Schouten and examines some of the key moments of Manitoba and Western Canadian history, including the First Nations Treaty sites in Manitoba, spirituality and the prairie landscape.

Both artists have created works in this exhibition that look at Treaty One of August 3, 1871. The pairing of Houle and Schouten has a particular resonance in southern Manitoba given their individual preoccupations portraying past events and places which have shaped modern Manitoba and defined many contemporary issues. Each of these artists does so from his unique perspective, yet they share knowledge of the significance of these events and treaty sites. Robert Houle’s Anishnabe ancestry is long; Tim Schouten is representative of the 18th and 19th century European immigrants to Manitoba.

In his work, Houle examines Canadian historical events, places, words, and spiritual connections, the roots and intersections of Aboriginal and European cultures and histories. Houle poses questions through his works about the cultural issues of the First Nations in Canada’s history focusing on identity and spirituality. He layers past with present and personal reflections with political situations, incorporating his deep understanding of both the First Nations’ and European spiritualities.

Treaty lands have been the focus of Tim Schouten’s work since 1995, addressing shared histories and long term consequences resulting from the eleven Manitoba Treaties with the First Nations. The landscape is his primary entry point. Drawing from history and his own sensibility for the prairie landscape, Schouten has visited each treaty site, researched the treaties and their subsequent impacts, interviewed First Nations elders and Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal historians and ‘built’ his works to underline our shared histories.

Both artists share a deep respect for and love of the prairie, its history, its geography and its people. Through these powerful reflections of our place, its history, strength, beauty, light and spirituality, Houle and Schouten simultaneously provide us with a challenge, the opportunity to understand the multi-layered meaning of culture with the hope of ensuring a richer, positive future.

The gallery, located near the St. Boniface General Hospital main entrance, is free and open to the public from Monday - Friday 10:00am - 8:00pm
SATURDAY & SUNDAY noon - 4:00pm
* closed on statutory holidays

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For more information, contact Tany Gagro, St. Boniface Hospital Atrium Manager, 237-2309.

September 28, 2009

Province Invests $2 Million in Rennovations, Expansion of Maternity Services at St. Boniface Hospital

Click here for full news release.

September 16, 2009

Better for patient care and staff
St. Boniface Hospital opens new Emergency Triage Area

Winnipeg - The Honourable Theresa Oswald, Minister of Health today opened St. Boniface Hospital’s newly renovated triage, registration and waiting room.

The $645,000 renovation was funded by Manitoba Health through the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority after a review last fall of city emergency departments.

“This project will help to ensure high-quality care is delivered quickly to the critically-ill patients who need it most,” Oswald said. “Ensuring patient visibility in the waiting room by Emergency Department staff will strengthen the delivery of safe emergency patient care.”

"The St. Boniface Hospital Emergency Room is an integral part of our emergency room system in Winnipeg," says Dr. Brian Postl, CEO, WRHA. "This redesign is better for patients and will also help the staff, who often work under pressure, to function better on a day to day basis."

The renovations which open today included creating additional space, relocating washrooms and redesigning the work space to allow nurses, registration clerks and security to have a full view of everyone in the waiting room.

“The redesign of the point of entry to our Emergency Department was a key element to improving patient care and safety at St. Boniface,” says Dr. Michel Tétreault, President and CEO, St. Boniface Hospital. “We have not only redesigned the physical space of our triage, registration and waiting area so that patients are visible, we have also taken this opportunity to review the overall process to reduce the steps between triage and initial assessment by the nurse and registration so that patients can be seen in a more appropriate and timely manner.”

The final stage, set to begin tomorrow, will create new bathroom facilities and should be completed by November.

“With this renovation nearly complete, we are now focusing on improving the flow of patients through the Emergency,” said Tétreault. “We are grateful to the Minister and the WRHA for their support of our redesign, and look forward to providing better care to the people of Winnipeg.

For further information call:

Hélène Vrignon
Hôpital général St-Boniface General Hospital
ph: 204 235-3557
fax: 204-231-0647
hvrignon@sbgh.mb.ca

Heidi Graham
Winnipeg Regional Health Authority
204.926.7178
204.223.9089 (c)
hgraham@wrha.mb.ca

For more information on any of the above mentioned news releases, please contact:

Hélène Vrignon, Corporate Affairs and Communications
St. Boniface General Hospital
phone:  237-2323
email:  hvrignon@sbgh.mb.ca