HealthBox launches at Winnipeg’s St. Boniface Hospital
Posted April 16, 2025 2:12 pm.
Last Updated April 16, 2025 11:09 pm.
A beacon of hope and care — that’s what St. Boniface Hospital staff hope the HealthBox machine becomes.
The HealthBox dispenses free harm reduction supplies and sexual health products, such as HIV self-tests, tampons, food, drinks, and naloxone kits.
“We have what the actual kit is, what the details of it are, available resources in the community, and we digitally have a video that will play for individuals to have more information on how to use a naloxone kit,” said Katarina Lee-Ameduri, director of ethics at Réseau Compassion Network and clinical ethicist at St. Boniface Hospital.
“I can tell you this is going to work. It’s going to reach people; it’s going to help people get what they need to take care of their health in a very non-judgmental and stigma-free way,” said Dr. Sean B. Rourke, director of REACH Nexus at the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital.
“It’s meant to be — a person can come up to the screen, they can choose the products that they want, or you can take products home for a loved one — and you’re not having to interact with a direct person, which may create anxiety or concerns about stigma,” said Lee-Ameduri.
This is the second HealthBox to open in Winnipeg — the first can be found at NorWest Co-op Community Health Clinic on Keewatin Street. However, it’s the first in Canada to find its home in a hospital.
“It’s particularly important because it hopefully will alleviate some of the concerns of why people show up to emergency,” said Lee-Ameduri. “If they’re looking for products and supports, we have this available to them here. And so it hopefully will create [a situation where] emergency is [used] for emergency needs only.”
Stocked with testing kits, it also aims to tackle another problem — the rise of HIV in the province.
Manitoba’s rates tripled from 2019 to 2023, reaching over 20 cases per 100,000 people — three times the national rate.
“They can feel safer to get tested and connected to care and treatment on their own terms,” said Roxanne Ma, VP of National Awareness Programs at the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research.
The HealthBox also acts as a data collection tool. Users fill out a questionnaire that helps researchers identify where the needs in the community are.
