Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - November 1, 2006, Winnipeg, Manitoba b2 Winnipeg free press wednesday november 1, 2006 City Asper Centre to be Home for heart surgery $30-m unit to offer better patient care by Alexandra Paul t he Winnipeg regional health authority has taken the final step in a massive heart care overhaul by announcing the exact location for $30-million heart surgery Centre at St. Boniface general Hospital. It la go to the . Asper clinical research Centre a five Storey building on the Hospital grounds. Consolidating heart surgery was a key recommendation of a report prepared by Arvind Koshal an Edmonton heart surgeon who reviewed Manitoba a heart program in 2003. All heart surgery will be performed at St. Boniface general by 2007. This is the final major step toward completing All the recommendations of the Koshal report said Warha presi Dent or. Brian Postl. Once the construction is completed this new state of the Art facility will result in More seamless and better integrated patient the $30 million was announced Early in March but it took until now for health officials to figure out where to put the surgery unit. It will have 15 intensive care Beds and 32 surgery Beds. Koshal was called in after it was reported that nine people had died wait ing for heart surgery since 1999. One of the nine was Diane Gorsuch a Winnipeg grandmother who waited two years had her surgery repeatedly postponed and finally had a heart attack and died before she could get into the or. Since then Manitoba a report card on heart health has been Check ered. A National report singled out Manitoba As the worst place in Canada to have a heart attack in 2005 and one of the worst places to have a stroke. Manitoba had one of highest rates of death within 30 Days of a heart attack in the country and the third highest rate of deaths within 30 Days of a stroke. That was the conclusion of the Cana Dian Institute for health information in its report last june on major health indicators in Canada. Then in december there was More bad news. It was reported that budget constraints were forcing Winnipeg hospitals to ration an expensive medical device called a stent used to keep blood flowing through patients hearts. By March the province had ponied up the Money for the new heart Centre As recommended by Koshal. Doctors then had to find a place to put it. The Asper Centre turned out to be the perfect solution said Werhas medical director for the cardiac sciences pro Gram or. Alan Menkis. Originally this was going to be a Clin ical research Centre. However in the terms of a capital asset this is a spectacular building and you re right its empty. We looked around at half a dozen options. This gave us the biggest bang for our Buck Menkis said in an inter View in the lobby of the Asper Centre. heart facts surgeries per year 1,300 waiting per month 100 to 140 surgeons in the or six permanent one temporary surgeons to move Here in 2008 two cardiologists at work 19. Cardiologists to be recruited by 2008 four to five tax dollars to Stock and equip the new cardiac surgery unit $28.7 million slated Good to go Date late 2008?early 2009. Surgery Beds 32 intensive care Beds 15 clinics for admitted patients and out patients several Mike Aporius / Winnipeg free press Dean Gunnarson stands in a plexiglas Cage As it is filled with wet Cement. Amazing escape a tribute More than 100 people crowded around the Box in the parking compound of two Small men with big hearts moving company at 100 Cole ave., started screaming As Gunnarson poked one hand through a Small opening on the top of the Box at to Houdini the 90-second Mark. Thirty seconds later his other hand thrust through and he was Able to pick the lock pop the lid and push his Way out. The Best Concrete in the world. I can swear to Dean Gunnarson did what no one ? including it he yelled still gasping for air. It was sucking his idol Harry Houdini ? had done before Shak me in. It was like ing off locks chains and Handcuffs and bursting Gunnarson said at one Point during the escape free from an upright plexiglas Box filled with two he Felt some nervousness because he could to get tonnes of wet suffocating Cement on tuesday. Out of one of his hands free of a set of Handcuffs. Caked in Grey Cement his Knuckles bloodied but on his last attempt his hand finally slipped and his lungs nearly ready to explode Gunnar Loose. Son 42, emerged from the would be Tomb to the Gunnarson said the idea came to him when he i did to see much of anything. It was pretty a year later the then 19-year-old kid from North wild cheers of an adoring crowd. Did a to show called the worlds most dangerous Black and Grey he said. Kildonan almost lost his life after a botched under his great halloween escape a tribute to the leg magic which showed him locked in a straight his fans could to believe their eyes. Water escape at the Alexander docks. Dendary Houdini was a roaring Success. Jacket and Hung by his feet from a trapeze 225 that was amazing said Jennifer Antonio 12, during his career he a escaped while dangling and hell never do it again. Metres Over the Hoover dam. A member of the society of Young magicians. I 225 metres Over the Hoover dam near Las vegas i a glad its Over the Winnipeg born magi when he was filming the escape he noticed a want sure he was going to do it at the end wriggled free from a straight jacket and chains Cian and escape artist said. I promised my mom Monument honouring the 93 people who died because you could see How he was trying to find while hanging upside Down by his toes from a that if i got through this escape i would never do when they were building the dam. The lock. It was so interesting and i a so Happy he trapeze Over 130 snapping alligators in Florida it some of them actually fell into the dam As they made and free fallen from a plane 13,000 feet above the the renowned performer began the amazing were pouring the Cement and Are encased inside Gunnarson insisted the escape was the real Deal ground wearing a straight jacket and two pairs of escape at exactly 1 26 . On halloween ? Mark the dam he said. And i thought what a Horri without tricks or illusions and could have ended Handcuffs before parachuting to safety with Only ing the 80th anniversary of the death of the leg ble horrible Way to so that a where the idea in disaster. Seconds to spare in Japan. Dendary magician Houdini. Started to build for the escape that you just wit i asked my family to stay Home. My Mother tuesdays escape was his first major gig in win it lasted exactly two minutes 43 seconds. Nested tuesday left the City and flew to Vancouver to be with my Nipes in years. You lose track of time. I did to think it would donning a wet suit Hood and mask Gunnarson sister he said. She did to want to read the papers we thought about Toronto los Angeles and take that Long he said after wiping the Harden jumped into the Box and braced himself against she did to want to hear the radio. New York. But i Felt at this time in my life it was ing Cement from his forehead. My lungs Are Hurt the sides As a Lafarge Canada inc. Cement truck a True Homegrown celebrity Gunnarson has time to come Back to Winnipeg said Gunnarson ing. It was very constricting in there. Poured in the thick wet mixture All the Way up to performed All Over the world for the past three who now lives near Riding Mountain National it was a lot thicker than i thought. I could this shoulders. He took a few final breaths before decades. His first Public stunt was an escape from Park. Move. I could barely get one hand to the other. It being completely submerged in Cement the lid of a straight jacket while hanging upside Down from by Jason Bell. was quite the the Box was placed on top and padlocked shut. The old free press building in 1982. Announcement lifestyles inc. Has amazing in Home tanning systems Bow flex fitness equipment As Low As $1,199 with Many in store models on display now you can Tan and exercise at your in Home convenience plus free in store gift with Purchase. Financing available Mac. Visit Kravco lifestyles inc. At three great locations Sargent at Berry Waverley at Scurfield Lagimodiere at Grassie ;