NDP promises to expand access to sexual assault care

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This article was published 25/09/2023 (982 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG — The New Democrats vowed to expand access to sexual assault care in Manitoba, while the Tories pledged to expand private liquor sales as parties returned to the campaign trail Sunday.

The NDP announced, if elected Oct. 3, it would create a provincial strategy and add seven full-time equivalent sexual assault nurse examiner positions to ensure care is available 24-7 in Winnipeg and some rural and northern communities.

“The needs of survivors are not being met,” claimed Union Station candidate Uzoma Asagwara. “We know that people are leaving without being seen. We know that equitable access to this care is not happening across Manitoba.”

The NDP said it would spend $2.4 million per year on the SANE positions and capital improvements, including upgrades to a waiting room at Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg.

The strategy would take a “no wrong doors” approach to ensure survivors can receive care in settings where they feel most comfortable, Asagwara promised.

Indigenous organizations and leaders would be consulted to help provide culturally appropriate wraparound care, said Nahanni Fontaine, the NDP’s candidate in St. Johns.

Fontaine said some women and girls from northern or rural Manitoba are forced to travel to Winnipeg for care due to a lack of services in or near their communities.

“This lack of proximity often prevents many women from seeking that essential forensic care that they require,” she said.

While in government in April, the Tories announced $640,000 annually to hire five more nurses and expand the SANE program to Brandon, The Pas and Thompson.

The SANE program at HSC suffered a series of resignations prior to April. Nurses who left had said there were gaps in coverage because of a pre-existing staff shortage, and their suggestions to improve care were ignored.

A spokesman for Shared Health, which operates HSC, said a provincial sexual assault and intimate partner violence program provides forensic examination and follow-up support to survivors in a hospital setting.

Organizations such as Klinic and Ka Ni Kanichihk are developing a community program.

As of April, pre-pubescent patients are seen exclusively by physicians within a child protection centre, the spokesman said.

He said all other patients get care through the SA/IPV program, which has 5.2 FTE permanent nursing staff, plus physicians and nurse practitioners who are casual.

At least two forensic nurses have joined in permanent or casual roles in recent months.

The program was largely reliant on on-call and casual staff before April, according to Shared Health.

The spokesman said there were zero gaps in coverage in September.

The authority is trying to fill vacant positions totalling 1.8 FTE.

Efforts to create a provincial service are in progress, said the spokesman, noting 15 nurses are enrolled in a 12-week forensic nurse training course.

PC spokesman Shannon Martin said the NDP voted against a provincial budget which included measures intended to ease staffing shortages.

Prior to the provincial election campaign, the Tory government announced a $400-million plan to add 2,000 health-care workers

Katie Stark, a sexual assault nurse examiner for 11 years, was among seven casual employees who left the HSC program in March.

She was among a group of nurses who supported the NDP’s announcement, held across from the former site of HSC’s women’s hospital.

“This plan has been a longtime dream of many,” said Stark. “It is one that has depth of care and has considered what Manitoba needs to truly empower and help survivors heal from sexual assault and intimate partner violence.”

NDP leader Wab Kinew, meanwhile, visited Thompson and other northern communities Sunday to make health-care and highway safety promises.

He pledged to restore birthing services in Norway House and Pimicikamak Cree nations, add an MRI machine at Thompson General Hospital and put more rest stops on Highway 6.

If elected, the PCs said they would reintroduce legislation to expand private liquor sales.

“To many Manitobans, this is a common sense policy,” said Kirkfield Park candidate Kevin Klein. “Manitobans, right now, go to other provinces and wonder why they have an easier time purchasing liquor there than they do right here at home. It’s time for expanded and convenient liquor sales in Manitoba.”

In April, the NDP blocked the Tory government’s attempt to expand private liquor sales to grocery and convenience stores under a pilot project.

Using the Costco Wholesale location on McGillivray Boulevard as a backdrop, Klein said the government would remain the province’s exclusive wholesaler of liquor, while claiming expanded private sales would help boost revenues.

The Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union spoke out against the proposal, while calling for more Liquor Mart Express stores.

It claimed Manitoba would lose funds that currently go toward health care or other public services.

Liquor store employees represented by the MGEU held a weeks-long strike over the summer.

NDP spokeswoman Emily Coutts said the liquor pledge is an attempt by the Tories to distract from its health-care record.

» Winnipeg Free Press