Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 23, 2021, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A1 FLYER IN TODAY’S PAPER WINNIPEG SUBSCRIBERS ONLY There’s always room for connection Space to explore. Stories to inspire. humanrights.ca CONNECT WITH CANADA’S HIGHEST READERSHIP RATE WEATHER: VARIABLE CLOUD. HIGH 22 — LOW 8 ® THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2021 FOUNDED IN 1872 MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS SETTING DOWN ROOTS Finley Stalker, 5, along with his grandfather, plants a poplar sapling in the riparian forest Wednesday along the Assiniboine River. The Assiniboine Park Conservancy’s Nature Tots-Autumn Adventures program was celebrating National Tree Day. A WINNIPEG brain surgeon, who was hired five years ago to establish a groundbreaking epilepsy program, has decided to leave Manitoba because he says the prov- ince has failed to fulfil its promise to fund it. Dr. Demitre Serletis says he has no choice but to move to the U.S. in the new year. His departure is the latest in a list of problems plaguing the province’s health-care system, from hospitals having to send ICU patients out of province to nursing shortages and a backlog of more than 100,000 post- poned surgeries and procedures. The neurosurgeon hopes that speaking up about the adult epilepsy surgery program may motivate the province to act. “It’s an important cause close to my heart,” said Serletis, who specializes in neuroengineering. He led the formation of a multidisciplinary team that de- veloped a proposal for comprehensive pediatric and adult epilepsy services. He was honoured by Doctors Manitoba this year for his work, which has helped to recruit other specialists to Manitoba. Serletis said he was hired to replace a pediatric neurosurgeon who had left, and to bring in a strong mandate for developing an epilepsy surgery program. “It’s not typically the case that we have to start from scratch and build a program. But the higher leadership said, ‘let’s start with a surgeon’ after having had at least a dozen neurolo- gists over the years leave the prov- ince,” he said Wednesday. By starting with a surgeon, “it gives some reassurance to neurologists that there might be a commitment to- wards actually developing a program like this,” said Serletis. Epilepsy is a unique specialty that’s like a “team sport” that requires a neurosurgeon, neurologists, radiologists, electroen- cephalogram (EEG) technicians and dedicated nurses, he said. When he arrived, the adult epilepsy unit was located on an orthopedic ward where nurses weren’t trained in seizure man- agement. On the pediatric side, the last neurologists who specialized in epilepsy had left the province, he said. “I came in that context and in the last five and a half years, we have made significant improvements,” he said. “This is a team sport and what I did was catalyze this into a common movement with a comprehensive pro- posal,” he said. “The capital came in from private donors and from government who responded favourably to a comprehen- sive plan, but there was no mention of any further development or support from leadership,” said Serletis. “I don’t want to give the sense that the epilepsy program didn’t develop,” he said. “I was able to deliver some of the surgeries that have never been done in this province,” he said. If the operating funds had been in place, Winnipeg could’ve been a “great cen- tre of excellence” instead of having to now send adults out of province for epilepsy surgery. “I know everybody is equally frustrated. It’s not just myself,” the neurosurgeon said. “We estimated in our proposal that there must be over 6,000 patients who would be eligible for surgery, and there’s about 19,000 patients with epi- lepsy in the Winnipeg Regional Health Region. These numbers are stagger- ing,” Serletis said. Fed up with province, brain surgeon to quit CAROL SANDERS LOCAL manufacturers in Winkler stayed open late so employees could be immunized against COVID-19 without their co-workers knowing. Groups of citizens recently gathered to discuss how they could bridge the COVID-19 divide growing in the south- ern Manitoba city and beyond. Despite the steady stream of nega- tive news coming out of Winkler and the surrounding area, positive steps are being taken to increase the immuniza- tion rate and heal the growing divisions, said Tory MLA Cameron Friesen, who represents the constituency. “Even though things are hard right now, there are good things going on, and that we should also be looking at the good things, and looking at those modelling the behaviour we want to see,” Friesen said Wednesday. However, that doesn’t mean the pan- demic divide isn’t significant. “Something has to change. The anger and resentment that we are see- ing in our community are unaccept- able,” Winkler Police Service Chief Ryan Hunt posted on social media last weekend, after public displays of bad behaviour by pro- and anti-maskers and both sides of the vaccine passport issue were reported. Winkler-based Dr. Eric Lane has said he is concerned doctors in the area, which has some of Manitoba’s lowest vaccination rates, are look- ing to move to a place where “their advice was taken more seriously.” Mayor Martin Harder has urged doctors to stay, because the commun- ity wouldn’t survive without medical professionals. Friesen, who is Manitoba’s justice minister, said he’s meeting with com- munity members and “digging deep” into his teaching toolkit to restore the lines of communication. “People are complex and we need to have complex ways of reaching people right now... vaccines and COVID-19 is on everyone’s hearts and minds,” said Friesen, who met with a large group of restaurant owners and operators last week. “What I hear from people... is we’re losing the ability to speak with one an- other. The lines are being drawn. The divisions are in families, in workplaces and community settings and those divisions are deepening. We need to work to move toward each other, and not away.” There are people in Winkler doing that work, he said. ‘Good things’ bridge pandemic divide in Winkler area: MLA CAROL SANDERS Departure set for new year over underfunding of epilepsy program ● SURGEON, CONTINUED ON A2 ● WINKLER, CONTINUED ON A2 Art al fresco Nuit Blanche sidesteps safety concerns with event featuring outdoor, online installations / D1 Tory beats Liberal — by 24 votes IT’S a squeaker, but the Conserva- tive incumbent appears to have retained his seat in west Win- nipeg — by a tiny margin of 24 votes. Marty Morantz has defeated Liberal candidate Doug Eyolfson in the Charleswood-St. James- Assiniboia-Headingley riding. Eyolfson had hoped to win back the seat after representing it from 2015 to 2019, when he was elected during a Trudeau sweep. Elections Canada posted the result on its website late Wednes- day after two days in which more than 3,000 special ballots were counted, including mail-in votes and ballots from hospitals, cor- rectional institutions and from members of the military. The 24-vote difference means a recount is mandatory. Morantz said he was relieved Elections Canada had finally posted the results and he looks forward to getting back to work in Ottawa. Morantz thanked his family, the campaign volunteers, and the riding’s residents, “who bore with us through this really unneces- sary and unwarranted election that nobody really wanted. It’s unfortunate that $600 million later, we wind up with a House of Commons that looks substantially the same as the one we had before the election was called,” he said. Morantz said he will respect the official process, which requires a judicial recount, and he declined to speculate on the reasons for such a tight race, including the impact of the far-right, anti-mask and anti- vaccine People’s Party of Canada, which garnered 1,573 votes. “I think there will be lots of analysis done about this race and how it turned out, but at the end of the day, my focus is really on getting back to work for the constituents.” There were 44,327 votes cast in the riding; a recount has to hap- pen if there’s a difference of 44 votes or less. KATIE MAY ● TORY, CONTINUED ON A2 A_01_Sep-23-21_FP_01.indd A1 2021-09-22 11:15 PM ;