In partnership with the Manitoba Health Care Providers Network (MHCPN) and Max Rady College of Medicine, Faculty of Sciences, Prairie Mountain Health (PMH) hosted the University of Manitoba medical student Rural Interest Group (RIG) in Brandon, last week.

The RIG weekend promotes the benefits of practicing medicine in rural communities and available lifestyle opportunities. Some 34 first and second-year medical students participated.

PMH has advocated for the initiative as it provides the health region with additional opportunities to engage medical students early in their training.

Clinical workstations were set up at Brandon Regional Health Centre to allow the students to put their skills to the test by undertaking tasks like suturing, casting and airway management.

Prior to the two days, tudent RIG co-president Sydney McLaughlin says participants looked forward to the event after a brief pause due to the state of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“On behalf of both the Rural Interest Group and the University of Manitoba medical classes of 2025 and 2026, I would like to extend a huge thank you to PMH for the preparations and for welcoming us again this year,” McLaughlin said. “These events are so important for our education as they expose students to what it is like to work in rural medicine, provide opportunities for students to network with doctors and residents, and give us an idea of what it is like to work within the health region.”

Some minor changes are being made to the structure of policing in the city with an officer currently assigned to the Crime Reduction Enforcement Support Team (CREST) being reassigned to general policing duties.

City council approved the plan at its Jan. 13 regular meeting and will officially be making the request under the Municipal Policing Agreement.

In 2019, the City increased its compliment of officers from 14 to 15 in order to support a newly-created Investigative Support Team, which was tasked with combatting drugs and gang activity in the communities of Dauphin, Winnipegosis and Ste. Rose.

In 2020, the IST evolved into CREST, which is provincially funded and does the same type of work, but on a provincewide basis.

The City continued to fund the CREST position - the only municipality on the hook for funding - after the provincial government indicated that removing City dollars would result in that position being removed from CREST, a reduction the City did not want to see at the time.

“Council at the time said, ‘okay we’ll let it play out and see how it goes, right, wrong or otherwise,’” city manager Sharla Griffiths said. “This council is looking at more of a community policing. We want more boots on the ground in our community. We want to have that 15th officer in our community.”

The move, she said should not affect the service the City receives from the CREST.

“Each district has its own, and when other areas of the province need them, they go," Griffiths said. "So the process should be if Dauphin needs something, they’ll come from other parts of the province.”

The time was right to make the move, Griffiths said, as the city is preparing for the development and implementation of a Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan later this year.

The world of community service has evolved and Dauphin’s new mayor is hopeful that not only will his council be open to new possibilities, but that other community organizations will take a critical look at their operations.

From a City perspective, David Bosiak would like to see councillors spend their time on projects they are passionate about and that they actually add value to a group or organization with which they are working.

“I don’t want councillors to grudgingly have to go to inefficient or ineffectively operated meetings, to sit through meetings that information could have been shared in a different way,” Bosiak said. “Councillors’ time is valuable and we have lots of things on our plates. I want the time they spend engaging with groups to be as effective and efficient as possible.”

Like any municipality, the City of Dauphin has to make decisions based on available resources, Bosiak said, adding he wants to ensure those resources are properly targeted.

“So I want to ensure that council and staff time is spent very effectively, but also those organizations which we fund, whether it’s with operating grants or special grants, even things like letters of support, I want to ensure that it’s all legitimate,” he said. “That the organizations are running as effectively as they possibly can to meet their mandate. Not to bow down to the City, but to meet their desired mandate.”

As part of that, Bosiak is hoping all community organizations take an open and honest look at their operations to ensure the time they spend in meetings and the time spent engaging with volunteers is effective. Volunteers are a valuable resource, Bosiak said, and organizations across the board are struggling to attract and retain them.

“In my work history of dealing with organizations who are functional and dysfunctional there’s a common thread. Many of the dysfunctional organizations have an inefficient and ineffective use of their resources, be that people or time or money ,” he said. “So I’m just trying to get organizations to take an honest look to see if there are more efficient ways of being. I want groups to willingly, not forced, but willingly look at themselves and determine are we being as effective as we possibly can be? Because resources are tight. That’s people, money, time, it’s all tight.”

Bosiak added he did not undertake this exercise presupposing any outcomes and whether those reviews will result in any changes is unclear.

“That’s the irony or the uniqueness of this. I have no motive . . . not to reduce funding or to reduce the number of meetings or the length of meetings, if that’s not necessary. My real goal is to determine what is necessary and to spend as much time and energy on those things and not the distractions,” he said. “I’ve had meetings with all of the councillors to discuss their roles on the various committees they’re on and (encourage them) to work towards making them efficient. And efficient doesn’t mean less, necessarily, because a lot of people get scared. ‘oh you’re going to cut our funding.’ No it’s about making you be as good as you can possibly be.”

Like all charitable events, the Trojans annual Stick it to Cancer is truly a community event where people from around the area donated their time, their money and their goods and services for the rainbow and silent auction tables in order to make the Expanding Community Cancer Care benefit game the rousing success - and such a heartwarming evening for nine years.

Almost every year since 2014, the Major Pratt Trojans have held a benefit game at the Russell Memorial Multiplex in aid of the expansion project.

Get all the details in this week's Russell Banner!

Last Friday, the Russell and District Regional Library joined hundreds of other learning establishments right across the country to celebrate Family Literacy Day.

Family Literacy Day takes place every January 27th to raise awareness about the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family. Taking time every day to read or do a learning activity with children is crucial to a child’s development, improving a child’s literacy skills dramatically, and can help a parent improve their skills as well. Since 1999, thousands of schools, libraries, literacy organizations and other community groups have taken part in the initiative.

The theme of this year’s Family Literacy Day was “Celebrate Your Heritage”. Canada is a great diverse country full of different cultures.

The goal of the theme of “Heritage” was to see that parents take the time to explore and learn about the historical stories and connection involving researching and learning about their shared heritage as a family. A few years ago the Russell and District Regional Library underwent an addition to the west end of the building.

The new space allows for a wealth of new activities and a chance to partner and spotlight other important community groups.

Check the full story out in this week's Russell Banner!

A new study in Manitoba shows how the great grey owl,” a common sight, either soaring over the plains or perching and nesting in the Boreal forests of the eastern Canadian prairies, overcomes many obstacles to find its prey.

The bird is able to “punch” through as much as 50 cms (20 inches) of hard, crusty snow – enough to hold a person’s weight – to catch a vole hiding beneath.

Details in this issue.

As part of the Manitoba government’s ongoing effort to help Manitobans make ends meet, Premier Heather Stefanson on Thusday unveiled a $200-million Carbon Tax Relief Fund aimed at helping 700,000 Manitobans cope with the negative impacts of rising winter costs, from food to fuel.

The 2023 Carbon Tax Relief Fund will provide help for all Manitobans including seniors, singles and couples with or without children who lived in the province on Dec. 31, 2021, and whose family net income that year was less than $175,000.

More in this issue.

With crime seeming to be on the rise in rural areas, many are looking for solutions to the problem.

Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa MP Dan Mazier and his colleague Kildonan-St. Paul MP Raquel Dancho held a virtual crime town hall Jan. 23 that also touched on Bill C-21, which is a ban on handguns. Recently there was an amendment that would ban many hunting rifles, shotguns and antique cannons.

Read all about it in this week’s Review.

The Dauphin Kings remain in the midst of the tight race in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s MGEU West Division.

After dropping a 4-0 decision to the OCN Blizzard, Tuesday in OCN, the Kings swept and home-and-home with the Waywayseecappo Wolverines, 5-1, Friday in Dauphin, and 3-1, Saturday in Waywayseecappo.

As a result, Dauphin enters the week in a three-way tie for second place with the Wolverines and Swan Valley Stampeders, two points behind OCN.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said the team took a step back in the game against OCN.

“The structure wasn’t there. The stick-to-itiveness, the trust in the process. We just didn’t battle hard enough. You’ve got to give OCN credit. They came at us hard. They used their speed,” he said. “We weren’t real tough to play against.”

After some good practices during the week, the Kings were able to rebound with a pair of solid efforts against the Wolverines.

“Wayway is a very good hockey club. They’re well coached. We played like we had to. We were responsible away from the puck. We didn’t leave a lot of chances on the rush. And then, if we didn’t (Cole) Sheffield had two great games and was outstanding,” Hedley said.

Last season, Swan Valley finished in fourth place, the last playoff spot, with 22 wins. Entering this week’s games, Neepawa is the only team within the division with fewer than 20 victories, sitting at 17.

Hedley figures 30 wins will be needed to get into the playoffs.

This weekend, the Kings will host the Blizzard, Friday for Ukrainian Night at 7:30 p.m., and again on Sunday at 4 p.m.

Hedley is looking forward to the weekend contests.

“We’re going to have some good practices this week and really focus on OCN. Any kind of tendencies we’re looking for, we’ll pass on the our players and get them prepared as good as we can. All it is is staying on our toes and playing to the best of our abilities,” he said.

The Parkland Rangers showed what hard work can accomplish by earning three of a possible four points over the weekend.

After starting the week with a 6-4 loss to the Brandon Wheat Kings, Parkland snapped a 10-game losing skid with a convincing 7-3 win over the Eastman Selects, Saturday.

Eastman got a measure of revenge on Sunday, beating the Rangers, 5-4 in overtime.

Parkland got off to a slow start against Brandon, falling behind, 4-1 after the opening 20 minutes, but rebounded to make a game of it, pulling to within a goal with under a minute to play.

Rangers head coach Tyler Carefoot said there was a lot for the team to be proud of in the three games.

“There’s lots to feel good about,” he said. “We teased the fellas a little bit, it’s almost like we’re peaking almost two months too late. But when you’re a young roster, it takes a little bit longer to be ready to execute and be ready every shift. But I think now we’re starting to see what the future holds for our program.”

The Rangers were noticeably active with their sticks in the defensive zone, part of the team’s commitment to team defence.

“That’s all about being responsible to team defence, to sticks in lanes, getting into shooting lanes, D side of the puck. And I think almost to a player, we are doing that,” Carefoot said. “And I think for any player, if we’re going to trust you, it starts with D.”

The whole team played well, which allowed Carefoot to use the entire roster. Players, he added, are starting to feel good about themselves.

Sunday’s game was the first time newcomer Havryil Simchuk did not get on the scoresheet. He had five goals and four assists in his first six games with Parkland before getting shutout on Sunday.

“He just adds depth. He’s a strong player and we’re leaning in him a lot and he’s doing really well,” Carefoot said.

The Rangers hit the road for two games this weekend against the Pembina Valley Hawks, Friday and Saturday in Morden.

The Hawks are currently third in the league with a 23-7-5-0 record. Their 51 points has them four points behind the Winnipeg Bruins.

The Rangers, Carefoot said, match up well with the Hawks. The two teams split a pair of games in Dauphin in early November.

“If we keep competing they way we have been the last five or six games, I think we’ll hang in there and who knows what will happen,” he said. “It’s just nice coming to the rink. The kids are smiling. Nobody really has a piano on their back right now.”

With nine games left to play, Parkland is 14 points out of a playoff spot. So, although they are not officially eliminated from the playoffs, their chances are slim, leaving them to play spoiler, something they are having fun with.

“I think this group is proving in most games we don’t quit. We just keep working. But just to go out and compete just for the spirit of the game, I think that’s what we’re focused on,” he said.