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The Dauphin Regional Health Centre's Emergency Department is now open, and starting to accept patients.
Craig Doerksen, Shared Health Executive Director for Capital Projects, said the road to where we are now hasn't been easy. The majority of discussions and work to get the emergency department open again was focused on conversations with DRHC staff and contractors, finding ways to address the staff's needs for a functioning emergency department.
"It was about pulling together the front-line staff, who knew what they needed to be able to open up an emergency department and re-open an emergency department, and then bringing our contractors and the consultants in to say, what is possible, what can we do within this timeline, and we evaluated multiple options...we've had to bring in temporary power, we've brought in additional HVAC to be able to cool and heat the space, and we brought in some additional facilities, there's trailers out the back of the facility, all to support the ongoing operation here while we're in this interim period," said Doerksen.
The City of Dauphin has also been an important collaborator on the project, especially when it comes to patient experience. Doerksen said the effective communication between the involved parties was definitely a help to avoid unnecessary slowdowns.
"That happened so frequently, the communication between the teams was awesome, communication between the City of Dauphin to make sure that they could assist us with parking, and making changes to the facility, getting our permits evaluated, helping us with signage, working with the Province and getting electrical inspections going on," said Doerksen.
Though the DRHC's Emergency Department is now open, the work is far from over. Doerksen said the immediate next steps will be to continue improving the emergency department, and eventually make it self-sufficient, not relying on external power. Once that is done, the teams will begin working to bring back other services to the facility.
"Actually our focus this last three and a half weeks has been achieving today, and there's still some continued work that we want to do in this existing facility to make the emergency department services a little better...and then we're starting to concentrate on looking at the total project timeline, looking at what it's going to take to remediate the basement level, the ground floor, and crawl space, get all of that addressed, and then begin restoring services like normal electrical power, normal ventilation, and heating," said Doerksen.
As we get closer to the winter, Doerksen said heating is a very high priority for the teams. Prairie Mountain Health and Shared Health will continue to provide updates as repairs progress.
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- Contributed by Ian Gillingham
Police are investigating a pair of fatal collisions in the Alonsa/Sandy Bay area.
A 53-year old man from the RM of Alonsa is dead following a single vehicle crash last Friday west of that community,
Ste Rose RCMP say it appears the vehicle failed to negotiate a curve and left the highway, before it flipped and landed in the ditch.
The driver was pronounced dead at the scene.
In the other incident, a 29-year-old man died after the all-terrain vehicle he was driving collided with a pickup truck early Sunday in Sandy Bay.
Manitoba First Nations Police Service says the ATV's driver was heading south when he drove through the intersection without stopping, colliding with the rear end of an eastbound pickup truck.
The ATV driver was transported to hospital in Portage where he died from his injuries, while the pickup driver was not injured.
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- Contributed by Jeff Henson
Manitoba's Progressive Conservative Caucus will be headed to the City of Sunshine for a couple days, getting started with meeting a few local stakeholders.
Jeff Bereza, MLA for Portage la Prairie, said the Caucus is looking forward to hearing from residents first-hand about some of the challenges the Parkland is facing, and how they can help.
"The people of the Dauphin area and that, the way they're willing to pitch in, the way they're willing to work together, and just like our PC team, that we like to do things together, it's time to spend some time in Dauphin, and listen to the people, listen to what they have to say...whether it be with their business, with healthcare, with addiction issues, whatever it may be, it's our time to listen to the public," said Bereza.
One of the key topics of conversation Bereza will be involved in is the large scale of infrastructure repairs that have been ongoing across the Parkland since early July, and the widespread damage and destruction to crops and agriculture across the region.
Bereza himself has more than 30 years of agriculture experience, before taking on the role of Portage la Prairie MLA. Part of his schedule will be a tour of Vermillion Growers, whose crop was wiped out by flooding, as a way to hear directly from just one of the region's impacted agricultural producers. Bereza said especially when it comes to agriculture, considering the Parkland's focus on the sector, it's important to hear straight from the producers.
"When we're dealing with farmers, and especially when we're dealing with crops, we need to hear from them and how important it is to get that infrastructure rebuilt there, because farmers can't charge more for the product they're selling, because that has already been established. So I think we need to work with farmers, how do we bridge these gaps, what do we need to do to help them move forward, to help them be successful," said Bereza.
Another topic that Bereza hopes to hear about is the Dauphin Regional Health Centre, and other health-related concerns in the Parkland. One of the key stakeholders Bereza hopes to speak with is Treena Slate, Prairie Mountain Health CEO, as well as Prairie Mountain Health staff.
"It sounds like she's doing a great job there, and hopefully we have the opportunity to hear from her and the folks that are working within the Dauphin health facility as well, to [ask] what more do you need," said Bereza.
Aside from stakeholder meetings, the PC Caucus will be holding a Public Reception & BBQ on Thursday, September 10th, starting a 5:30 PM at Credit Union Place. Bereza hopes many Dauphin residents will attend, to make sure their voices are heard by Manitoba's PC Caucus.
"Come an join us at the rec centre on Thursday evening, just for an informal get together. Here's your chance to talk to the whole PC Caucus here of what we can do to help make the Parkland be greater than what it is today," said Bereza.
Other meetings throughout Thursday include conversations with local City and RM officials.
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- Contributed by Ian Gillingham
The Parkland Chamber of Commerce Street Fair is going ahead this year, albeit a month and a half later than normal.
The event is set for Friday, September 18th in CN Park and along 1st Avenue Northwest.
And even though there were some changes from the original lineup, Executive Director Kamryn Winters says there will still be a great variety of local entertainment.
"From Country to Jazz, to Rock. I feel there will be more rock later on in the evening. It goes from solos to duos to full bands, and anything in between with the dancers. So I feel it is going to be a really good day."
Also returning is the Dauphin Agricultural Heritage Society with a display of equipment, as well as the Kids Zone with Bouncy Castles and Face Painting.
The Dauphin Lions Club will also serve up a pancake breakfast to start the day.
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- Contributed by Jeff Henson
Ernie Sirski is a familiar name to much of the RM of Dauphin, whether it's through his role as the current Reeve, or one of the many ways he's been involved in the region's agriculture.
With the upcoming Manitoba Municipal Election in October, Sirski was faced with a choice: run for a second term, or step away from the role of Reeve? He says it best.
"I have taken my papers out, I've got the required number of signatures on my nomination forms, so yes, I've decided to put my name forward for one more term...we've got a new CAO who's doing a wonderful job for us, and I think it's just imperative that we try and have some continuity, not only through the council, but through the leadership at the Reeve as well," said Sirski.
Sirski said the past few year's certainly have had their challenges, especially the past couple months. Though it looks great on a resume that Sirski was able to handle recent flooding in the role of Reeve, he said the focus shouldn't be on him.
"The thing that it's taught me is that it's not myself or the council, it's the resilience of the entire community that pulled together to make sure that we all, number one stayed safe, number two got things working in a manner that benefited the whole municipality, and number three the people that we have working in our municipality," said Sirski.
Before he first took on the role of RM of Dauphin Reeve, Sirski had no political experience whatsoever, aside from farm politics. He said that played a big part in why he even considered running in the first place, and his agriculture experiences have definitely helped him during his term.
"I really believed we need farmers on a rural council, and I still believe that, I still believe that we need active farmers that are willing to step up and lead this organization," said Sirski.
Going forward, whether he ends up in the role of Reeve for a second term or not, Sirski said he'll continue to make sure his voice is heard when it comes to standing up for agriculture in the Parkland.
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- Contributed by Ian Gillingham
July 1st, 2026 is a day that Dauphin won't forget any time soon. Between damages to basements and properties, to severely disrupting agriculture in the region, and forcing the closure of the Dauphin Regional Health Centre, after what was arguably the worst flooding the region has ever seen.
For residents of Dauphin and the immediate area, the closure of the Dauphin Regional Health Centre was very concerning, as the closest emergency departments are a thirty minute drive away. After months of constant work and collaboration with health partners, Treena Slate, Prairie Mountain Health CEO, reflected on the recovery process, saying it simply wouldn't have been possible to reopen the DRHC's Emergency Department this soon without those partners.
"The main floor was not flooded and so there was no physical damage, however we [had lost] mechanical and electrical power, and so we were able to establish temporary power and mechanical services to the building, so a HVAC system to the main floor of the building...a tremendous amount of work has gone into getting where we are today in that short amount of time, I don't think anybody would have envisioned that we'd be actually here in the hospital today," said Slate.
Within the first 48 hours of the DRHC's closure, there were a slew of challenges that Prairie Mountain Health and Shared Health had to deal with, on a scale they've never seen before. The DRHC's basement was almost completely ruined, and there had to be the complete evacuation of 54 patients from the hospital. Slate said in that effort, and repair efforts since, the Province has especially been a necessity.
"There is no way that Prairie Mountain Health would have been able to achieve this by ourselves, and so we very much needed the power of the Province behind us, and so our Shared Health partners, in terms of their leadership that they've lended to support this project, and Craig Dirkson specifically for his leadership, has just been tremendous...we've all had a 'can-do' approach to achieving this, and involving our front-line staff has been key as well, because our front-line staff know best what's required to work in their clinical environment and provide the care that's required safely to patients," said Slate.
The closure of the Dauphin Regional Health Centre has been especially hard on all of the healthcare professionals who work at the building. One of Prairie Mountain Health and Shared Health's immediate responses to the DRHC's closure was to enhance staffing and hours at both the Grandview and Ste. Rose emergency departments - a move which required DRHC employees to make the trip to those emergency departments each day for their work. Slate said that measure was especially tough on the staff, but is very grateful for their continued support.
"We absolutely recognize and acknowledge the displacement that our staff have gone through over the last few months, and I don't think we can overestimate the impact of that, that's very distressing for people to have to endure that...what I'm hearing from our staff here today is that everyone is very happy to be home, and our front-line staff have been first-hand participating in this planning, and have helped us succeed in opening today on September 7th," said Slate.
The DRHC is currently on external power, as repairs are still necessary in the basement of the facility. The immediate next steps will be restoring the requirements for the emergency department to be self-sufficient, then work will begin on returning other services to the Dauphin Regional Health Centre.
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- Contributed by Ian Gillingham
It's been a deadly week on Manitoba highways, as a total of five people were killed in two seperate collisions.
Four young people are dead following a two-vehicle collision near Winnipeg Beach on Sunday night.
According to RCMP, a westbound vehicle on Highway 229 was struck while crossing Highway 8 by a southbound van. Both vehicles ended up in the southwest ditch, with one vehicle rolling onto its roof.
The four occupants of the westbound vehicle, all under the age of 19, died at the scene, while four people in the van, all from Winnipeg, suffered minor injuries and were taken by ambulance to Winnipeg.
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- Contributed by Jeff Henson
If your gas tank is a little light on September 15th, consider stopping by one of Dauphin's Co-op Gas Bars. On that day, 10 cents per litre goes to this year's Fuel Good Day beneficiary: the Dauphin Friendship Centre's Food for Thought Program.
Jarri Thompson, Events Coordinator at the Dauphin Friendship Centre, said she's very grateful to have been selected as this year's beneficiary. Over the past few years, the Food for Thought program has seen a noticeable increase in the number of students that use the program, so Thompson said the donation will go a long way.
"It's gonna make a huge difference, because the food for thought program has been growing sizeably over the last, even the last four years since I've been working with food for thought. At $4 a plate, we're estimated to get 6 to 7 thousand dollars from the Fuel Good proceeds, and so that's gonna feed a couple hundred kids...when I started food for thought back in 2020, we were sitting at around 4 to 5 hundred kids. We now serve closer to a thousand, and we still use a similar base of volunteers, between 60 to 64 volunteers," said Thompson.
Thompson said volunteers are something the program needs now more than ever. That steady growth in the number of students using the program means more volunteers will be needed, and that boom hasn't happened just yet. Whether it's preparing the meals on Mondays and Wednesdays or serving them on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Thompson encourages anyone interested in volunteering with the Food for Thought program to reach out.
"If there were a need, the need is definitely more volunteers, and the funding...we're always looking for servers, so Tuesdays and Thursdays they would come pick up the food from the Friendship Centre, take it to the schools, serve it, and bring everything back, and they're also served a meal, that whole process takes about an hour, but then on Mondays and Wednesdays we're looking for volunteers to help prepare the meal, so that's more of a time commitment, but definitely worth it," said Thompson.
Last year's Fuel Good Day beneficiary was the Dauphin-Ochre Band Parents Organization, who received $6,361.74 through the purchase of fuel, BBQ purchases, and other fundraising.
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- Contributed by Ian Gillingham
As Manitoba's municipal election inches closer, there's an important deadline coming up.
Across the province, the period for nominations for mayors or councillors is September 22nd, at 4:30 PM. If you intend on submitting a nomination for either role, you're encouraged to contact your local Municipality or governmental body to find when the start of their nomination period is - but make sure you get your nominations in before September 22nd.
Additionally, September 22nd is the deadline for updating voter information. If you need to update your voter information, two pieces of government ID are required. For specifics on how to update your voter information, contact your local Municipality or governmental body - more often than not, those changes need to be made in-person.
Manitoba's Municipal Elections are set for Wednesday, October 28th.
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- Contributed by Ian Gillingham
Earlier in the year, from June to July, Manitobans were able to vote on the design of a new Manitoba Parks license plate.
In a video on social media, Premier Wab Kinew announced that the loon design had won the voting, and will soon be available to supporters of Manitoba Parks to purchase.
During the survey period, 62,605 Manitobans voted, in a show of good engagement. Listening to community feedback, the plate will be Manitoba's first specialty license plate to be offered in both English and French.
Part of the proceeds from each plate will go to the Manitoba Provincial Parks Endowment Funds, helping to improve Manitoba Parks' public safety, visitor experience, and enhancing accessibility.
Since the start of the Specialty License Plate Program in 2011, more than 215,000 plates have been sold, providing more than $6.4 million to charities. The new Manitoba Parks plates are expected to be available for purchase starting in Spring of 2027.
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- Contributed by Ian Gillingham
With the reopening of the Dauphin Regional Health Centre's Emergency Department, Prairie Mountain Health wants to remind people about some important updates for services and the process of a visit.
When you arrive, you'll enter the hospital through a security checkpoint, who will then direct you to the appropriate registration desk. While you're in the emergency department, you're allowed one family member or support person, to ensure there's enough space for patients and families as they require care.
There is also a public washroom set up outside the Dauphin Regional Health Centre's main entrance for patients and visitors. It will remain locked, and a key will be available at both the ED and DI registration desks.
Prairie Mountain Health reminds visitors to be patient with hospital staff, and is continuing work to make sure other parts of the Dauphin Regional Health Centre are undergoing repairs.
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- Contributed by Ian Gillingham
