A terminally ill Winnipeg woman diagnosed with stage four cancer spent 21 hours on a gurney in a hallway at the Health Sciences Centre emergency department, according to her daughter Theresa Chanowski.
Emergency Room Wait Times and Hallway Medicine at Health Sciences Centre
Colleen Titanich, who is turning 71 in November, experienced a rapid decline in health following a family barbecue early in the week, according to her daughter. Titanich was diagnosed with cancer in 2024 after it originated in her lungs and subsequently spread to her brain and spine. When her condition deteriorated to the point where she struggled to walk and developed back pain accompanied by a rash, Chanowski called for an ambulance.
Upon arrival at the Health Sciences Centre emergency department, Chanowski was informed that her mother faced a wait time of 21 to 24 hours to see a doctor. Chanowski described the emergency department as jam-packed, noting that she observed patients experiencing withdrawals while yelling and spitting at nurses. Titanich spent 21 hours on a gurney in the hallway before ultimately being moved after her family intervened.
Family Intervention and Subsequent Transfer to Riverview Health Centre
After multiple overnight check-ins yielded no doctor consultation, Chanowski contacted the office of Manitoba’s Minister of Health. Within an hour of that call, Titanich was moved out of the hallway into a bed, and a palliative care coordinator contacted the family regarding a transfer.
Titanich was transferred later that day to the Riverview Health Centre for palliative care. Chanowski asserted that without persistent advocacy and calls to government officials, her mother would have remained in the emergency department hallway.
Provincial Response to Healthcare System Pressures
Manitoba Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara acknowledged during a Friday afternoon news conference that wait times in urgent care and emergency departments are too long. Asagwara emphasized that the provincial government is focusing resources on staffing levels and expanding operational hours at primary care clinics to alleviate the bottleneck.
“We would love for these challenges to get fixed much more quickly. We would all love to see those wait times addressed much faster,” Asagwara stated during the press briefing. However, the minister noted that system-wide delays accumulated over years and will require sustained effort to resolve.
Patient Advocacy and Systemic Concerns
In the wake of the incident, Chanowski called for operational changes within emergency departments, suggesting that patients dealing with addictions should be accommodated in separate facilities from elderly, pediatric, and terminally ill patients.
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