Dr. Greg Pinniger

Dr. Eric Stearns

Two longtime physicians earned a moment in the spotlight to recognize their commitment to health care throughout their careers.

Dr. Eric Stearns and Dr. Greg Pinniger each received a Physician Emeritus Award at Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority’s annual spring physician dinner last night at the Selkirk Golf and Country Club.

Dr. Charles Penner, regional lead of medical services and chief medical officer, congratulated this year’s recipients for their achievements.

“It brings me great pleasure to recognize my physician colleagues, Dr. Eric Stearns and Dr. Greg Pinniger, for their contributions to health care in the Interlake-Eastern region,” Dr. Penner said. “We are privileged to have such dedicated professionals serving our communities.” 

Dr. Stearns is preparing to wrap up a career that spans more than four decades and he said receiving the Physician Emeritus Award is the top honour.  

“You can’t beat delivering babies, and I also love to teach,” he said. “And to go out with this award is awesome. It’s the highlight of my career. It really tops it off. This is amazing to me.”  

Dr. Pinniger said it’s an honour — and a surprise — to be chosen as a recipient of the Physician Emeritus Award.

“I'm just one of many people in the health-care system who try to do their best,” he said. “I appreciate the recognition given to me by my colleagues. It is touching and humbling.”

Click here to read more about their careers and contributions.

Last week, IERHA staff celebrated sports teams during one of the days of Spring Spirit week.

Thanks to Wave readers for all the fun photo submissions!

Check out these how staff celebrated Sports Day across the region. We'll share more Spirit Week photos in upcoming editions of the Wave.

Kin Place sure knocked it out of the ball park and scored with wonderful participation in Sports Day!  Thank you to Lori Martin, regional recreation manager, for this submission.

Sunnywood staff in Pine Falls are full of team spirit! Back row, Shawn, housekeeping; Emily, recreation; Brian, maintenance lead; Richard, maintenance; Erin, support services manager; Cherish, health-care aide; Sumeet, agency nurse. Middle row: Holly, dietary lead; Angelina, manager health services. Front: Eden, health-care aide; Ila, health-care aide; and Jean, health-care aide. Thank you to Angelina Hartwell, manager of health services, for this submission.

At the Lac du Bonnet Personal Care Home, everyone sure loves their sports, with hockey and curling being the favourites. Health-care aide Jen Fontaine was having fun posing for the picture. Thank you to recreation coordinator Debra Bilawka for this submission. 

The regional home care team even got into the spirit of Sports Day virtually.

Top: Leana Smith, manager health services home care; Lynn Hoplock, case coordinator; Jaylese Dziadek, case coordinator. Middle: Shantel Anderson, scheduling supervisor; Lorraine Loewen, resource coordinator; Carol Birch, case coordinator; Krista Kozyra, manager health services home care. Bottom: Lauren Airey, resource coordinator; Kristol McDonald, resource coordinator specialist; Lisa Smith, home care education coordinator; Amanda Linklater, resource coordinator; Tricia Tyerman, director health services home care. Thank you to Tricia Tyerman for this submission!

Interlake-Eastern RHA staff recently attended a career fair held in partnership with Teulon Collegiate. More than 200 students from grades 7 to 12 attended.

Thanks to Teulon Collegiate for hosting us and to the following IERHA and Shared Health teams for participating: physician recruitment, mental health, ERS, community wellness, cancer care, lab and diagnostics, long-term care, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, home care, support services, primary care, mental health and HR.

We’ll next be travelling to career fairs at Lord Selkirk Regional Comprehensive Secondary School (May 1) and Peguis First Nation (May 2).

If you hear of a career fair opportunity, please contact Ian Magnan, recruitment and community engagement officer at imagnan@ierha.ca or 204-340-5596.

SDCF executive director Bev Clegg, SDCF original board member Jean Oliver, IEHF executive director Averill Stephenson and IEHF past chair Ted Lewis. 

Selkirk & District Community Foundation recently hosted an event at Selkirk Regional Health Centre that brought together donors and recipients of SDCF funds and grants. The event provided the opportunity for donors to hear about the impact of their donations and for recipients to share stories.

SDCF original board member Jean Oliver presented three cheques totaling $66,573 to the Interlake Eastern Health Foundation. These funds are grants from funds held at SDCF: the Selkirk Hospital Fund, Palliative Care Fund and Amma’s bookshelf.

Learn more.

Debbie Lussier is an accounting clerk, finance, at Pinawa Hospital.

April 24 is Administrative Professionals Day, which recognizes the important contributions of administrative professionals to the health system every day.

Let's take a moment to recognize these keepers of projects and schedules!

Shown here on the steps of the legislature are, from left to right, back row: Gerry Hamm, Howard Shiels, Henry Fast. Middle row: Alleson Sandwell, Yvonne Oxer, Ann Dixon and Melanie Shumilak. Front row: Linda Kuber. Missing are Al Curtis, Bill Findlater, Jenn Klippenstein, Wendy Noble, Pat Peacock and Judy Schmidt.

On April 16, as part of National Volunteer Appreciation Week, volunteers of Selkirk and District Seniors Resource Council Inc. attended the Manitoba legislature where Selkirk MLA Richard Perchotte recognized them in front of the Legislative Assembly. Among these volunteers was Yvonne Oxer, who invested more than 50 years as a nurse in Selkirk.

In the course of a year, Selkirk and District Senior Resource Council volunteers help over 3,000 individuals with services and programs necessary for independent living. Community programs offered include friendly visiting, driver escort to medical appointments, Lifeline installation and support and Meals on Wheels delivery with support from the congregations of Christ Church Anglican, Selkirk United Church, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, C.W.L Notre Dame, and Knox Presbyterian Church.

On average, more than 3,600 volunteer hours were donated in the last year!

Click here to read the private member's statement from MLA Richard Perchotte.

Marked annually in Canada on April 28, the National Day of Mourning is dedicated to remembering those who have lost their lives, suffered injury or illness on the job or experienced a work-related tragedy.

According to the Association of Workers' Compensation Boards of Canada, in 2022, there were 993 workplace fatalities recorded in Canada. And it’s not just these numbers on which we need to reflect. With each worker tragedy there are loved ones, family members, friends and co-workers who are directly affected, left behind and deeply impacted – their lives also forever changed.

Traditionally on April 28, the Canadian flag flies at half-mast on Parliament Hill and on all federal government buildings to show their support. Employers and workers can show support in a variety of ways. We encourage you to show support by observing a moment of silence at 11 a.m. on April 28.

Consider watching the CCOHS (Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety) moment of silence video in your workplace to honour those who have died or suffered injury or illness due to a work-related tragedy. The video can be found here.

Pause. Reflect. Remember.

Thank you to Lea Doomernik, ability case coordinator, for this submission.

Health Equity Week is April 22 to 26, 2024. This annual event is a fantastic opportunity to learn, share insights and promote health equity.

Here are a few events through CancerCare Manitoba:

Date: TODAY! Wednesday, April 24 at 12 p.m.

Presenters: Dr. Navaratnam, Brent Kreller

Topic: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at CancerCare Manitoba

Click here to join.

Date: Thursday, April 25 at 12 p.m.

Presenters: David Phillips, Brooke Davison, Dr. Lin Yang

Topic: Highlights of Equity in Action at CCMB

Click here to join.

Date: Friday, April 26 at 8 a.m.

Patient Services Rounds

Presenter: Dr. Beth Spriggs

Topic: Living in the Hearing World

Click here to join.

Is your profession or department celebrating an upcoming recognition day? We'd love to share in the excitement! Please send us a brief write-up (250 words maximum) plus a few staff photos for consideration for possible publication in the Wave. Send submissions to ierhawave@ierha.ca.

Curling couple Kadriana and Colton Lott are off to a strong start at the 2024 Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in Sweden.

Jennifer Sahaidak, receptionist at the Selkirk Corporate Office, is the proud mom of Kadriana and mother-in-law of Colton. She shared with us the detailed scheduled she created for the couple's remaining games, pictured above.

Thanks to Jennifer Sahaidak for this submission!

There are plenty of pet lovers on the Selkirk and Area My Health Team, based out of the Selkirk Medical Associates Clinic.

Team member pharmacist Lesley Worsnop suggested they create a wall of pets to keep the office area cheery and happy. 

"Lesley printed off pictures of the staff’s pets and together we created a wall of our pets on the bulletin board above our printer. One of our doctors added her new puppy to our wall," said Sherisse Picklyk Dear, community liaison counsellor.

"Patients coming for appointments have commented on how lovely the wall is and stop to look at all of the heartwarming pictures. Our pets truly brighten our day."

Thank you to Sherisse Picklyk Dear for this fun submission.

ASIST: Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training

June 13 and 14 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Selkirk Regional Health Centre.

Participants must attend the two full days to receive certificate of completion.

Learn more. 

IERHA has partnered with TELUS.

Click here to check out the latest offers for April.

The following phrases were taken from the “LexiGo Santé” booklet. 

To receive a free copy of this pocket-sized French|English booklet, email frenchlanguage@ierha.ca with your name and worksite address.  

We're taking a break from publishing editions in weeks following statutory holidays.

There will be no issue of the Wednesday Wave published on May 22.