Australia to Winnipeg

tutusandfrogs · Feb 6, 2006

Hi Welcome.

I live in Winnipeg, and we are the most affordable housing in Canada! Also, Winnipeg is top 3 on most of affordable in all of North America. The winters are really cold, -30 on average but the summers can get just as hot!!

There is a psych ward at the health sciences centre. I don't know much more though!!

If you give me some time, I can give you tons of info on our city... but I have to go to class!!

Bye! and good luck!

nd1960 · Feb 7, 2006

Hi there, Thanks for taking the time to reply. I look forward to receiving more information from you, classes permitting

thanks

Neil

nathu · Feb 7, 2006

Hi, as the other poster said winnipeg has a fairly good housing market but houses are becoming harder to find as in many cdn cities. You may also want to be wary of which areas you move to as winnipeg has a reputation as a somewhat violent city. In terms of psychiatric facilities every city hospital has a psych unit, what would be best for you would depend on what you are looking for. The community hospitals units are mostly psychogeriatric units, if this is what you are interested in then you can look into grace hospital, seven oaks hospital or concordia. Deer lodge is always hiring, but I am not sure about a psychogeriatrics unit there but they are opening a brain injuries unit. Health sciences centre has it's own psychiatric facility with adult, child, and forensic units. This hospital is right in the middle of the city and no more than a 30 minute drive or 50 minute bus ride during peak hours. There is also another very large psychiatric hospital, Selkirk mental health Institution. This hospital is a more long term facility. It has adult, geriatric and forensic units, there are no child or youth units. Selkirk is a small town of about 12000 30 minutes outside of winnipeg. I know nothing of the housing market there. Some people do commute although this can take over an hour during the winter and the roads can be very dangerous. Winnipeg has a low cost of living, groceries and most entertainment is very well priced. The only thing that may be a little more expensive in winnipeg is vehicles. As for leisure if you enjoy outdoor activities there is a fair bit to do either in winnipeg or within 3 hours of the city (if you like skiing, but are not too particular about very large hills). To check job postings go to http://www.wrha.mb.ca or hsc.mb.ca or you can google the other hospitals. Hope this helps, sorry about the length.

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Feb 7, 2006

No one has yet mentioned the McEwen Centre at St. Boniface General Hospital (my alma mater). McEwen is a full-service psychiatric facility with both inpatient and clinic treatment, including child and adolescent psychiatry. As well, St. B. has a crisis stabilization unit and a halfway house called Sara Riel House. And the Manitoba Adolescent Treatment Centre also provides psychiatric services to teens.

Winnipeg does have affordable housing and many nice neighbourhoods. Property taxes and user fees are on the high side however. There are a lot of older homes built on rather unstable clay soil, and that would be a consideration when deciding where to buy. The market is pretty tight these days. When we sold our home in South River Heights privately in 2002, it only took us four days to have a signed offer in hand for more than $5000 more than asking price.

In terms of crime, the area around the Health Sciences Centre is one of the worst in the city. Aboriginal and Asian gangs have become established in that area and turf wars are a problem. No areas are totally immune to violence: last summer my daughter witnessed a murder in the parking lot next to her apartment block in a quiet neighbourhood near the University of Manitoba.

Social and cultural activities are abundant. Winnipeg has two universities, a ballet company, a symphony, a concert hall, a number of live theatre venues, museums and galleries for every taste and sports for both the spectator and the participant. The Forks is a world-class site that offers historical, cultural, social and shopping opportunities, and the Exchange District is a well-recognized collection of carefully preserved turn-of-the-20th-century buildings that has masqueraded as a variety of different cities in movies... Plus there are a number of parks and beaches close by for summer fun. (They do SO have summer in Winnipeg!!:chuckle )

tutusandfrogs · Feb 7, 2006

janfrn - has stated lots of stuff!! :)

I just wanted to add that the Health Sciences has both an adult and an adolescent (and child I believe) in and out patient psychiatric ward. True, the area is not the greatest... which is kind of dissapointing because that's a main hospital... :/

Insurance rates on cars aren't that bad compared with other provinces IMO. I have a 10 year old buick that I pay $65 a month in insurance for lol. It's in perfect condition, even now! :)

I believe the housing market is slowing down a little now, because of the interest rates climbing.... just like anywhere, there is "booms" of a buyer and seller markets... and I am sure things will be stable for awhile. Or just get a condo! lol

Yes, Winnipeg may have a higher crime rate, but it is still a WONDERFUL city to live in... with lots of big hearted people. I have lived elsewhere, and I came back. I honestly wouldn't want to live anywhere else... except maybe hawaii! hehe! I am very proud to call Winnipeg my home!

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Feb 8, 2006

I just wanted to add that the Health Sciences has both an adult and an adolescent (and child I believe) in and out patient psychiatric ward. True, the area is not the greatest... which is kind of dissapointing because that's a main hospital... :/

I must confess that I don't have a lot of faith in or respect for child and adolescent psych services at Children's... I worked in the PICU there for five years. We had a frequent flyer who came in with his first suicide attempt (hanging) when he was twelve. His second attempt was wrapping a Hydro truck around a tree... didn't kill him but made him a T3 quad. After that he was limited to drug overdoses. He had five serious attempts in four years, and each time the CAP folks patted him on the head and sent him right back into the same environment he was so despearate to escape. Another FF of ours was a street kid with Type 1 diabetes who would stop taking his insulin whenever he had a date with the courts. I can't remember how many times we treated and streeted him. He died last April at the age of nineteen. Then there was the failed suicide who lived on a vent in our special care unit who would cry all night sometimes because she really didn't want to die. Her chart documented CAP's visits... "Not sleeping. Switch to melatonin and chlorpromazine." She died a year or so after a double lung transplant.

Insurance rates on cars aren't that bad compared with other provinces IMO.

This is very true! Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia all have public, no-fault insurance with really reasonable rates. Here in Alberta, anyone under the age of 25, good record or not, better be independently wealthy if they want a car in their name.

Yes, Winnipeg may have a higher crime rate, but it is still a WONDERFUL city to live in... with lots of big hearted people. I have lived elsewhere, and I came back. I honestly wouldn't want to live anywhere else... except maybe Hawaii! hehe! I am very proud to call Winnipeg my home!

No argument there! We lived there for fifteen years; our kids grew up there. We only left for a couple of compelling reasons... employment for my husband and proximity to my aging parents. I get back to Winnipeg at least a couple of times a year, having left a daughter and many friends behind. Crime in Winnipeg is really no worse than anywhere else. Edmonton was Canada's murder capital of the year in '05. The lone murder committed in our little town was an Edmonton crime that just happened here... the victim and the perpetrator were both Edmontonians. One protects one's self and one's belongings, and one has a good life.

tutusandfrogs · Feb 8, 2006

janfrn, I must say that I don't know much about the PICU at the hospital... I just know there is one. Are these problems management related, doctor's, nurses??? I wonder what's going on... those are some very sad tales, that break my heart.

I must admit, as an adolescent I was in an abusive relationship that had lead me to some serious depression... and I stayed there, albeit for a very short time... but I found the nurses themself so wonderful, and so hopeful. There was even a nurse who helped by taking one of my "garments" home to sew it!:blushkiss

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Feb 8, 2006

I really doubt the problem lies with the PICU itself. More likely with the CAP team. On the occasions that I worked days in the special care unit when the young lady on the vent was there, and the psych team made their visits, I really didn't see much therapeutic behaviour being modeled. Many times, if the girl wasn't cooperative they simply wrote in the chart that they'd been to see her and that was that. She really got herself into the vicitm role early on, refusing care, demanding attention when her nurse was busy with another child, soiling her bed and vomiting at will. She was a very challenging young lady, but I loved her anyway. She was the only pt I've ever taken my son to visit... she needed to see that she wasn't the only kid in the world who'd been dealt a bad hand, and that it really came down to how you played the cards you had.

My view of CAP hasn't been improved by the performance of the team here either. I see the same sort of failure to connect, if you will, here as I did there. Last summer we had an adolescent with full thickness burns to her face, neck, chest and both hands. All the fingers on her left hand were amputated. She had huge issues to deal with and we nurses were the ones to provide her with the support and direction she needed. Psych seemed not to want to get into all that with her. I mean, five minutes' standing at the foot of the bed makes it hard to really develop a rapport. I transferred her to the burn unit via the OR; one minute she was telling me she wanted to be dead, and the next she was crying, terrified that she wouldn't wake up after her surgery. I promised I would stay with her until they took her into the suite, and I did. I bought her an orange bucket hat and a purple bandana to wear on her first forays out of the burn unit to help hide her bald head. I explained about occupational therapy and how she'd learn to do things without her fingers. And I helped her figure out what she would say to the other kids when they laughed at her hands. Why didn't anyone else do those kinds of things for her?

On the other hand, I've been helped immensely by one of the psych liaison nurses at HSC when I had my own crisis years ago. She was amazing and I owe her my career. So I guess it's all about what we bring to the table. If we're there to go through the motions to get a pay cheque at the end of the week, well, I guess that's what we get.

nd1960 · Feb 8, 2006

Thank you for your replies. It certainly looks like the cost of living and house prices are inexpensive and there is a variety of leisure activities. I am interested in the comments regarding the violence in the city, so perhaps people could let me know the better areas to live in and I can look them up on a map. Also, could you please let me know the working conditions, staff ratios, etc of the facilities mentioned.

Thanks again,

Neil

tutusandfrogs · Feb 8, 2006

As far as areas... I would go anywhere outside of the central area. I live in the south end of town... probably one of the best areas ehehe I a biased?

Fort Garry, River Heights, Charleswood, ummm Maples, Garden City... those are my suggestions... I grew up in Elmwood... a lot of people say it's a horrible neighbourhood, but I never experienced any violence or anything like that... I would still recommend East Kildonan/North Kildonan as a good place to start... but again that's my opinion.

My least likely place to live... North End. I can't think of anything else really... ??

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Feb 9, 2006

I agree with tutusandfrogs... those are all good areas. St. Vital, Windsor Park, Linden Woods, Whyte Ridge, Island Lakes, Fort Richmond, Southdale, Niakwa, River Park South, Westwood, St. Charles, Crestview, Silver Heights, Inkster Gardens, Tyndall Park and Garden Grove are all nice neighbourhoods with decent homes under $200K Canadian. Areas I'd avoid would include Brooklands, Weston, parts of Fort Rouge and Crescentwood, Point Douglas, parts of Elmwood and the entire central area of the city. I'd be cautious about Wolseley, North River Heights, St. Boniface and Lord Roberts... but not because of crime. The housing stock in those areas tends to be older (early 1900s to 1940) and although there's been alot of rehabing going on, many of the homes are desperately in need of more than a facelift. Those areas are also the most likely to have structural problems because of the clay soil shifts, and they are on a combined sewer system, so when the spring runoff is particularly high and there's a lot of rain, the sewers tend to back up. Not pretty. Transcona is rather far and the commute is rather awful to anywhere but St. Boniface... If we were ever to move back, I'd be looking in Linden Woods, Whyte Ridge or South River Heights.

Now, as far as working conditons go, when I left there was a severe shortage of experienced nurses. I'm told this has improved. One of my dear friends is president of the Manitoba Nurses' Union... and another is on the executive, so I'm kept informed. You could always look at their website at http://www.nursesunion.mb.ca for current information. Pay is somewhere in the middle of the pack; the contract is in effect until October 1, 2007 with negotiations ongoing in several other provinces. Individual facilities have their own sets of problems. Seven Oaks is in the north end of the city and gang violence is starting to be an issue for their ER. HSC is in the inner city and has all the problems that go with that. I liked working there, but then I was in peds. Actually, the only hospitals that I've never worked at there are Concordiawhich sees a large Mennonite clientele, and the Grace, which is affiliated with the Salvation Army. St. Boniface serves the Francophone population and is a Catholic hospital but is not limited to hiring French-speaking Catholics at all. The food in the cafeteria there is pretty good. Victoria is the Club Med of Winnipeg hospitals. It's also the closest hospital to my daughter's place... she can walk to it if need be, and I think she probably has.

I hope you find a nice home in a great neighbourhood and a super job. All this talk of Winnipeg is making me very homesick... but my old team is on nights so I'll just have to suffer.