New 28-bed unit at Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre will offer 'care that stroke patients deserve'

Manitoba stroke survivors will soon be able to access specialized care and intensive rehabilitation in a new acute stroke unit at Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre.

The centralized unit at Manitoba's largest hospital will open on Monday with 12 patient beds and expand to 28 beds as more nurses and support workers are hired over the next three to four months, acute stroke unit manager Treena Bilous said during a tour of the new facility on Friday.

"This is the first unit that will be providing the care that stroke patients deserve," she said. "Research suggests that post-stroke patients require that intensive rehab that unfortunately, we haven't been able to provide in Manitoba."

There are approximately 3,500 strokes in Manitoba each year. Until now, those patients only had access to two of three standard therapies while in hospital — clot busting and clot removal therapies. 

The new stroke unit, first announced in 2019 under the previous Progressive Conservative government, will now give patients improved access to intensive rehabilitation, which is crucial in speeding up recovery times, the province said in a news release.

The new 18,400-square-foot facility on the fourth and fifth floors of 735 Notre Dame Ave. — the former women's hospital at HSC — includes single-patient rooms and a gym space where patients can work with physiotherapists. 

It also includes a communal kitchen specifically designed for use in occupational therapy, to help assess how well a patient will be able to move around in a home setting after being discharged.

Patients need to have intensive rehabilitation right after a stroke in order to have successful outcomes and move toward the goal of being able to go back home, Bilous said. 

That means an average day for a stroke patient in care can be quite intense. They can expect to engage in two to three hours of intensive rehabilitation every day, she said.

The focus is getting the patients out of their rooms and moving their bodies. That can include things like eating in the communal kitchen, but the physiotherapy gym is where the patients will grow the most, said Bilous.

Patients who require more care can be referred to in-patient rehabilitation support through the community stroke program. 

Walking through the new facility, Bilous said she's looking forward to seeing the unit's first patients arrive — and hopefully be discharged after a seven-day recovery period.

Each single-patient room in the unit is designed to support people with mobility challenges, said Dr. Shawn Young, HSC's chief operating officer. That includes lifts installed above each bed, making transitions easier for patients. 

"There was a lot of infrastructure that was developed to be able to support patients in a much better way," he said during Friday's tour. 

The acute stroke unit will have a staff of about 40, including physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, social workers, nurses and stroke neurologists. 

Those medical professionals "will provide the full range of therapies for stroke patients to prevent further health complications, reduce the chances of a second stroke occurring, and maximizing their recovery," Dr. Esseddeeg Ghrooda, a stroke neurologist at HSC, was quoted as saying in the province's news release.

He said Manitoba took inspiration from stroke units in Edmonton and Calgary, but Winnipeg's has been updated with the most modern equipment. 

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara noted a stroke is "a health situation that for many families is very scary."

"Manitobans are going to be able to access a world-class facility right here in our own province led by some pretty incredible people who've worked very hard to get to this day," they said during Friday's tour of the unit.