St. Boniface Hospital has come up with an innovative way to stay connected while in hospital.

Right now, due to the COVID-19 pandemic family and friends are not permitted to visit patients in St. Boniface Hospital, apart from certain exceptional circumstances. The Hospital had to get creative and find a simple and easy solution to keep people connected with their loved ones during these difficult times of social distancing.

The Well Wishes Program was created to allow family and friends of those staying at the Hospital to send their loved-ones messages of support.

The messages are submitted online, from the Hospital’s website and received by the St. Boniface Hospital Volunteer Program. Each message is then printed, and hand- delivered to the patient or unit, depending on what’s permitted. The messages can be up to 1000 characters in length and are delivered within 24 hours of receipt Monday to Friday. Patients can request to have the letters read aloud to them.

Though the patients are not able to respond back, the program allows them to maintain a connection to the outside world during their hospital stay. The Foundation is also helping to provide additional bedside telephone capacity so patients can stay in touch with family and friends.

To send your very own message to a loved one in St. Boniface Hospital visit https://stbonifacehospital.ca/visitors/well-wishes/

If you would like to do even more to support patients and staff during the pandemic, consider making a donation to our new COVID-19 Response Fund, visit https://stbhf.ca/en/2020/03/24/now-more-than-ever/