Work starts on St. Boniface Hospital expansion in Manitoba

WINNIPEG – Work has begun on a major expansion and modernization of the St. Boniface Hospital emergency department.

Officials explained the new emergency department’s design aims to:

Reduce wait times and the length of stay in the emergency department
Improve patient and staff experiences
Maximize functionality and flexibility, with expanded space for increased number patients.

Provincial data shows in 2019, there were close to 48,000 emergency department visits at the hospital. Based on population growth and age projections, the province noted the facility is expected to accommodate 55,000 annual visits at its opening, scheduled for the fall of 2025.

With this expansion, officials said the emergency department will be able to continue providing safe, high-quality care to patients in the future, as annual visits are projected to grow to an estimated 70,000 to 75,000 by 2039.

“The St. Boniface Hospital emergency department is critically important in the delivery of emergency medicine services in Winnipeg and our regional health system as a whole,” said Mike Nader, president and CEO of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, in a statement. “This project will create a modernized environment in which staff can continue to deliver, and patients can access, the best care possible.”

The $141-million project involves renovating 18,600 square feet of existing space and add 86,200 square feet in new construction. Features of the new facility include expanded waiting rooms, a triage area and resuscitation area. There will be a dedicated diagnostic imaging suite with a new CT scanner and X-ray machines, private exam rooms in treatment areas, a mental health treatment area and an ambulance entrance and parking bay for 10 ambulances.

The design includes a new covered south entrance to reduce congestion, an improved south parking lot and a public-use outdoor garden space.

“The staff and physicians who work in the St. Boniface emergency department are truly dedicated professionals, but we know they have been working in an aging environment that needed to be upgraded,” said Nicole Aminot, interim president and CEO of St. Boniface Hospital. “We’re both excited about, and proud of, the clinical improvements and enhancements to patient care that will result from the newly redeveloped and expanded emergency department here at St. Boniface.”