Concordia Hospital is a regional
hospital in
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...
,
Manitoba
, image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg
, map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada
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that was founded in 1928, and has a primary service area with a population exceeding 150,000.
Between April 2011 and March 2012, Concordia Hospital provided 1,507 hip and knee surgeries, nearly 50% more than any other Winnipeg facility.
The hospital's name originates from a poem entitled "Song of the Church Bell" by German poet and philosopher
Friedrich Schiller. The inspirational line reads, "Concordia shall be her name; to harmony, to hearty fellowship, it summons the cherished community."
[
]
History
Machray Avenue
The Concordia Society was founded in 1928 as a maternity hospital
A maternity hospital specializes in caring for women during pregnancy and childbirth. It also provides care for newborn infants, and may act as a centre for clinical training in midwifery and obstetrics. Formerly known as lying-in hospitals, most ...
in a private home on Machray Avenue in West Kildonan, by the Mennonite Hospital Society. The original facilities included five beds and the hospital had a staff of three people.[ The first year saw 28 mothers admitted to the hospital, and by the second year the admissions had increased to 100.][
In 1930, the hospital was renamed Mennonite Concordia Hospital and was operated by a Board of Directors.][
On 26 March 1931, the hospital was granted official incorporation by the ]Government of Manitoba
The powers and structure of the provincial Government of Manitoba (french: Gouvernement du Manitoba) are set out in the Constitution Act, 1867.
In modern Canadian use, the term "government" referred broadly to the cabinet of the day (formally ...
.
On 13 July 1931, a new site was dedicated for the hospital, and 1933, the hospital purchased the Elmwood Sanitorium.[
]
400 DeSalaberry Avenue
Concordia Hospital began operating from the 400 DeSalaberry Avenue location in Elmwood in 1933. The new hospital stood on the former location of the Elmwood Sanitorium. The institution was formally declared open on June 17, 1934. During the first eleven months of operation at the new location, the hospital admitted 297 patients. Of these, 113 were maternity patients, 114 were surgical patients, 67 were medical and 3 were admitted for bone fractures.[
By 1938, the hospital had 50 beds and 12 staff.
The hospital expanded in 1953 and 1958.][ In 1957, the hospital added eight cribs and eight beds to the maternity wing.
In 1964, the hospital purchased the land which became the current location of the hospital.][
By 1971, the hospital had 79 beds and 25 doctors.] As of 1972, the hospital operated on a budget of $950,000 per year, with 69 beds, and a staff of 112.
1050 Concordia Avenue
In 1974 the location opened with 124 beds,[ at a cost of $7.5 million. In the same year, the hospital was investigated concerning possible medical, board and administrative irregularities surrounding incidents of patient deaths during 1973.
Concordia hospital workers joined the 1980 ]CUPE
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE; french: Syndicat canadien de la fonction publique, links=no; french: SCFP, link=, label=none) is a Canadian trade union serving the public sector – although it has in recent years organized workpl ...
strike which included 3,000 non-medical workers as well as workers at the Health Sciences Centre, Winnipeg Cancer Foundation, and hospitals and nursing homes in Brandon
Brandon may refer to:
Names and people
*Brandon (given name), a male given name
*Brandon (surname), a surname with several different origins
Places
Australia
*Brandon, a farm and 19th century homestead in Seaham, New South Wales
*Brandon, Q ...
, Dauphin, Selkirk, Gimli, Swan River, Portage la Prairie
Portage la Prairie () is a small city in the Central Plains Region of Manitoba, Canada. As of 2016, the population was 13,304 and the land area of the city was .
Portage la Prairie is approximately west of Winnipeg, along the Trans-Canada Hi ...
, and Pine Falls. The three-and-a-half week strike was ended June 20, 1980.
In 1983, the obstetrics unit at Concordia Hospital was closed, in order to centralize obstetrics services at St Boniface Hospital and Health Sciences Centre.
In 1985 the Emergency Department of the location was expanded.[
In 1989, Concordia was Winnipeg's third-busiest emergency unit, despite being the smallest hospital in the city, and operating on a budget of only $19 million.
In 1993, the hospital was considering closing the emergency department from midnight to 8am in order to save $280,000/year.
In 1994, Concordia Hospital became the first in Canada to use laser treatment for prostate surgery, in a one-week trial which was the largest conducted at a single institution in North America.
In 1997, the hospital suffered a funding crisis such that patients being referred for basic blood tests and ultrasounds were being turned away. At the time, the hospital had among the highest load of any city hospital with a 24-hour emergency room. The 136-bed hospital's budget was $27 million.
In 1999, the hospital was struggling with overcrowding and regularly keeping numbers of patients on beds in the hallways, instead of in rooms. According to one nurse, it was the worst over-crowding in at least 14 years. As of January, the Winnipeg Health Authority had a $70 million wish list of programs, but the government had only provided $31 million.
In 2000, the hospital opened a new 26-bed unit. This unit included a 14-bed Orthopedic Post Acute Surgical Unit, which was the first of its kind in Winnipeg, and a 12-bed Rehabilitation Unit.
In late 2001, the Manitoba Nurses Union sent notice to nurses in the province asking nurses not to apply for jobs at Concordia hospital, citing continued management violations of the collective agreement. This action, which the union referred to as "greylisting", was the first of its kind in the province.
In 2005, the Manitoba government made the hospital a centre of excellence in hip and knee replacements.
The hospital's Emergency Room underwent a $3.6-million renovation in 2008, increasing the size by nearly .][ The renovation included increased space for the triage area, minor treatment rooms and admitting desk, as well as the addition of counseling rooms and improvement of the medication rooms.][ The upgrades included the addition of an Emergency Department Information System (EDIS) which tracks information on patients that visit the ER.][
In 2015, the hospital had the longest recorded ER waits of any hospital in Canada, with 90% of patients in the ER being seen by a doctor within 7 hours.
In 2019, Concordia Hospital's emergency room was transitioned to an urgent care centre, despite local protest.
]
Other facilities
Concordia Place
In 1998, Concordia Hospital built Concordia Place, a personal care home
A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of elderly or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as skilled nursing facility (SNF) or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to i ...
adjacent to the hospital. Concordia Place opened on 10 May 2000, with 140 beds.[ Staff at Concordia Place include Registered and Licensed Practical Nurses, Health Care Aides, Recreation staff, a Clinical ]Dietitian
A dietitian, medical dietitian, or dietician is an expert in identifying and treating disease-related malnutrition and in conducting medical nutrition therapy, for example designing an enteral tube feeding regimen or mitigating the effects of ca ...
, and Occupational Therapist
Occupational therapists (OTs) are health care professionals specializing in occupational therapy and occupational science. OTs and occupational therapy assistants (OTAs) use scientific bases and a holistic perspective to promote a person's abi ...
, and a Chaplain, among others. Concordia Place features group activities and recreational programs and a dedicated chapel.
Concordia Village
Concordia Village is an assisted living
An assisted living residence or assisted living facility (ALF) is a housing facility for people with disabilities or for adults who cannot or who choose not to live independently. The term is popular in the United States, but the setting is si ...
facility located across from the hospital. The facility includes three buildings: Concordia Village I, Concordia Village II and Concordia Village III. Each facility features both one and two-bedroom apartment units with kitchens, storage and private balconies.[ Buildings I and II each have two guest suites for visiting families and other overnight guests.][ Concordia Village is owned and operated by Concordia Wellness Projects Inc., a non-profit registered charitable organization. Construction costs for the three villages were $12.0 million for Phase I, $16.8 million for Phase II, and $13 million for Phase III.
Village I has 94 units and was established in 2006 at 1125 Molson Street.] Village II has 103 units and was established in 2008 at 1115 Molson Street.[ Village III has 90 units and was established in 2010 at 1115 Molson Street.][
Concordia Village's services include:
* Dinner meal and continental breakfast
* Weekly housekeeping and daily garbage collection
* Personal security device
* Planned social/recreational activities and excursions
* Visiting home care workers
* Hair salons
* Monthly banking with Steinbach Credit Union (SCU)
* ATM machines
]
Concordia Hip and Knee Institute
In 2009 at Concordia Hospital opened a building to house the Hip and Knee Institute. The cost of the equipment and office space for the institute were $8.8 million. The building includes a Shoppers Drug Mart
Shoppers Drug Mart Inc. (named Pharmaprix in Quebec) is a Canadian retail pharmacy chain based in Toronto, Ontario. It has more than 1,300 stores in nine provinces and two territories.
The company was founded by pharmacist Murray Koffler in 19 ...
. The third level is completely dedicated to the Hip and Knee Institute. The institute is home to a hip and knee assessment clinic, a digital imaging clinic, a research facility, a research laboratory, a training and education facility and a pre-habilitation clinic. The institute has a knee surgical simulator suite, a scanning electron microscope
An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of accelerated electrons as a source of illumination. As the wavelength of an electron can be up to 100,000 times shorter than that of visible light photons, electron microscopes have a hi ...
, a digital X-ray lab and an implants retrieval lab. The implants retrieval lab provides storage for worn-out replacement hip and knee joints for studying patterns of failure. The institute features a conference centre connected to an operating room where surgical procedures can be viewed on a television screen.
In 2012, the hospital performed 1,558 hip and knee surgeries, outpacing Grace Hospital's 1,476. Concordia also performed more joint replacements than any other Manitoba hospital.
Controversies
* Concordia Hospital has been involved in outbreaks of highly contagious viruses and antibiotic-resistant superbugs. Based on data released covering 2006 through 2008: in 2007, the hospital saw 42 people infected with MRSA
Methicillin-resistant ''Staphylococcus aureus'' (MRSA) is a group of Gram-positive bacteria that are genetically distinct from other strains of ''Staphylococcus aureus''. MRSA is responsible for several difficult-to-treat infections in humans. ...
and 30 people infected with Norovirus
Norovirus, sometimes referred to as the winter vomiting disease, is the most common cause of gastroenteritis. Infection is characterized by non-bloody diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach pain. Fever or headaches may also occur. Symptoms usually devel ...
, and in 2006 the hospital saw 82 Norovirus infections.
* A hand-hygiene audit completed in February 2012 found that front-line staff in hospitals do not sufficiently wash their hands. Reports reviewed two wards, N2W and N2E, and found compliance rates of only 58% and 48%.
References
External links
Concordia Hospital
List of current outbreaks in Winnipeg Health Region facilities
{{authority control
Hospitals in Winnipeg
Hospital buildings completed in 1931
Hospital buildings completed in 1974
Hospitals established in 1928
1928 establishments in Manitoba
Kildonan, Winnipeg