Manitoba’s first Smilezone pediatric unit unveiled in Brandon

The ribbon is cut and the newly redesigned pediatric unit at the Brandon Regional Health Centre is now open.

The Smilezone Foundation works to redesign waiting rooms, patient care rooms, and treatment rooms into Smilezones with bright colours and unique designs to bring smiles to kids’ faces.

This Smilezone is the first in Manitoba.

“The psychological advantage for the parents, the grandparents, the siblings, and the staff, it’s amazing how that changes the perspective of going into a hospital and what it means to everybody,” says Scott Bachly, Smilezone Foundation co-founder.

The Brandon Smilezone was made possible by donations from the Grewal, Kuntz, and Spencer families.

“If it wasn’t for families and individuals who contribute to all of our programs and services, they would not be what they are,” says Prairie Mountain Health CEO Brian Schoonbaert, thanking those family members in attendance directly for their contributions.

All three families carry direct association with the Brandon Regional Health Centre, going back to when it was known as Brandon General Hospital.

“Our father was a psychiatrist at the Brandon Mental Health Centre and sadly passed away from cancer shortly after arriving to Brandon,” says Jin Grewal, who spoke on behalf of the donor families at the unveiling. “Our mother worked as a nurse at Brandon General Hospital. And I know she would have been extremely proud of the way the nursing community worked tirelessly to get us through what has been an incredibly challenging past two and a half years.”

Previous patients in the children’s ward also had the chance to see the completed renovations before the unveiling.

“This ward is such an amazing place full of some of the most amazing and kind people you will ever know,” says former patient Amari Stocks, “so having this grant for the ward is such an amazing thing and I know it’s going to make so many other kids on the ward so so happy.”

Establishing this first Smilezone in Manitoba is a big step towards the organization’s goal of Smilezones in pediatric wards nationwide.

“We’ve built 300 Smilezones across Ontario, we just did some in Alberta, we’ve done some in Nova Scotia,” says Bachly. “And the fact that we’re now in Manitoba is a great honour for us.”

The Smilezone Foundation’s website notes that over 230,000 children have stayed in Smilezones nationwide since 2013.