![\"Manitoba](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/cbc.ca\/da8e1a65993615e8d77ab4af42f72b05.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\nWinnipeg’s health authority has asked a trio of long-term care facilities to make spaces available for some hospital patients as the local health-care system grapples with a surge in demand.<\/p>\n
Riverview Health Centre, Deer Lodge Centre and Misericordia Health Centre have all been told to find temporary capacity to take on patients, a Winnipeg Regional Health Authority spokesperson said in an emailed statement to CBC News.\u00a0The patients are those who no longer need acute care but still require some level of care before they transition to other settings, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
The WRHA “continues to experience exceptionally high demand for care across the health-care system,” they said, and facilities across the region “have a shared responsibility to identify and use available capacity to help respond to periods of increased pressure.”<\/p>\n
The health authority said the move is part of “standard surge protocols” intended to create more capacity in acute care hospitals and help patient flow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Manitoba Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said the health system is seeing “unprecedented service levels throughout the summer.”<\/p>\n
The summer months usually see a slowdown in demand, but this year has been different, Asagwara said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It is the responsibility of the entire system to respond when we see surges like this,” the health minister said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Manitoba Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara told reporters Friday the WRHA is taking ‘necessary steps’ to find capacity within the health-care system amid high levels of demand. (Prabhjot Singh Lotey\/CBC)<\/p>\n
“The WRHA is taking the necessary steps to make sure that wherever there’s capacity throughout the system \u2026 that everyone is contributing to making sure that there are more beds available so that people are getting care in the right places at the right time.”<\/p>\n
Darlene Jackson, president of the Manitoba Nurses Union, said she’s concerned about the WRHA’s move because it’s unclear whether a long-term plan will follow the temporary measure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She fears nurses at these three facilities could be under increased pressure if patients are moved there without the help of additional staff members.<\/p>\n
Nurses at long-term care facilities in Manitoba often have very high patient loads, ranging from one nurse to 20 patients on a day shift and one nurse covering as many as 60 patients on a night shift, Jackson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Darlene](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/cbc.ca\/eabda4b6b28d7c6558c2ee5a6c63d97c.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson says she worries the health authority’s move could place an additional burden on nurses. (Travis Golby\/CBC)<\/p>\n
“I think it’s extremely worrying that if we do not bolster staffing at those facilities and ensure there’s appropriate adequate staff, we’re just going to be putting an even bigger load on those nurses,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I really worry about this plan if it is not planned and rolled out effectively.”<\/p>\n
The health minister disagreed. Asagwara said the WRHA’s plan will redistribute capacity across the system and take pressure off front-line staff at facilities facing very high patient volumes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I think it’s really clear that these surge protocols are necessary and that staff at the sites that are experiencing extreme pressure need for other sites to free up capacity and contribute to do their part as part of a whole-of-system response,” the cabinet minister said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“This is a responsible response to unprecedented volumes during months where we typically see those pressures come down.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Asagwara said the provincial government has been working with the health authority in recent months to add more transitional care unit capacity.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Winnipeg’s health authority has asked a trio of long-term care facilities to make spaces available for some hospital…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[51461,54047,54042,13627,54046,54044,54043,54045,84,85,87],"class_list":["post-168757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-acute-care-hospitals","tag-darlene-jackson","tag-deer-lodge-centre-and-misericordia-health-centre","tag-health-care-system","tag-hospital-patients","tag-long-term-care-facilities","tag-manitoba-nurses-union","tag-uzoma-asagwara","tag-winnipeg","tag-winnipeg-regional-health-authority","tag-wrha"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}