Wednesday, January 15, 2020
Serving the Hub of the North since 1960
Volume 60 • Issue 3
Number of people being turned away because homeless shelter is full increased in last few months of 2019 FAILED ATTEMPT TO ROB FLIN FLON BUSINESS NEWS PAGE 2
RCMP OFFICER’S UNIVERSITY HOOPS TEAM HONOURED SPORTS PAGE 6
WILD WALLOP NORTHSTARS
BY IAN GRAHAM
EDITOR@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET
The number of homeless people in Thompson may be growing, as increasing numbers of people are being turned away from the homeless shelter because it is full. Thompson Homeless Shelter and Canadian Mental Health Association– Thomson executive director Paullette Simkins said at the city’s Jan. 9 public safety meeting that the number of people being turned away has increased in recent months. In September, 108 people requesting shelter were turned away because the facility was full. In October, the number was 134, in November it was 154 people and in December it was 206. “We’ve noticed that there’s new faces in town,” Simkins said, including many in their 20s and 30s. In response to a question
from Mayor Colleen Smook about whether more people who have been banned from Northern Manitoba First Nations by band council resolutions are showing up in Thompson, acting Thompson RCMP detachment officer-in-charge Chris Hastie said police haven’t noticed an increase in people banned from their First Nations. Under the city’s cold weather policy, which provides a warm-up building at the Eastwood outdoor ice rink for people to spend the night in when the homeless shelter is full and the overnight temperature is expected to drop to -35 Celsius or lower, including windchill, about 150 people have been housed so far this winter, 92 of them male and 62 of them female. Simkins also said people staying at the Thompson Homeless Shelter and at the Project Northern Door-
Thompson Citizen file photo The number of people turned away from the Thompson Homeless Shelter in December because it was already full was 206, nearly double the number from September, when it was 108. way residence at 95 Cree Road are reporting various problems, including wheelchair users having difficulty accessing the Cree Road facility because there is no gate facing Cree Road and
the alley behind the building can be hard to travel on when snow doesn’t get cleared. One resident of 95 Cree Road, who has both legs amputated, has reported being refused service by a
taxi company with wheelchair-accessible vehicles. Homeless people have also reported being approached by young people and verbally insulted and threatened, Simkins said.
Thompson operating rooms still expected to open in early March, NRHA says SPORTS PAGE 7
HIGH SCHOOL CURLER COMPETING AT WOMEN’S PROVINCIALS SPORTS PAGE 12
The expected date for the reopening of the three Thompson General hospital operating rooms shut down as a result of water damage last June remains early March, the North Regional Health Authority said Jan. 10. “We had heard that there may be some talk in the community that the date for reopening was extended for an extra few months but that is not the case; it still remains at March 2020,” said NRHA communications co-ordinator Twyla Storey in an email. Once a firm date has been established,
the NRHA will make that information public. Previously, an opening date of January had been expected but unspecified production delays pushed that date back about three months, the NRHA said in December, adding that the only surgeries being performed were life- and limb-saving surgeries and emergency C-sections. All but one of the hospital's four operating rooms were knocked out of commission seven months ago as a result of water damage from a faulty rooftop air conditioning unit.
By mid-July 123 surgeries had been cancelled and 27 others performed at other health care facilities in Manitoba. While the operating rooms have been unavailable, the hospital has aimed to keep one surgeon and one anesthetist on call at all times, NRHA CEO Helga Bryant told the Thompson Citizen in July, along with one obstetrician and three operating room nurses. The Thompson General Hospital’s operating room area was originally built in 1957 and renovated to the current layout in 1972.
Yer snow gotta go!
Contact Nelson at 204-307-0281 pruderspropertyservices@gmail.com to discuss your property needs!