Back in Business

After retiring six years ago, Tony Pesce is back in the automotive business — this time focusing on passing the torch to the next generation.

Pesce has been in the business 37 years. He started working at a Shell station on the corner of Corydon Avenue and Waterloo Street in 1979. Three years later he purchased another shop on Academy Road where he opened Tony’s Academy Auto Service.

Through the years, Pesce added more locations to the Tony’s Academy Auto Service brand until 2016, when he sold his shops to enjoy the perks of retirement.

But when his son, Anthony Pesce, told him that he was thinking of opening up another automotive shop and the opportunity arose to return to their shop on Chevrier Boulevard, Pesce said he knew it was time to jump back in.

When your need is critical

St. Boniface Hospital needs your help to meet the growing needs of our patients in Manitoba.

You can be a lifeline and make a gift before the end of the year.

St. Boniface is getting a new Emergency Department and we are looking to you to invest in the future of our community. This redevelopment and expansion project will transform the footprint of the Hospital when it opens in 2025. It will also create the best possible space for front-line staff to provide compassionate care to patients and their families!

It is a huge project. But we have a small ask for you: will you make a gift today to help just one emergency patient?

A community campaign for surgical innovation at HSC

"Operation Excellence will revolutionize health care in Manitoba. With a successful campaign, we will position HSC for long-term success, ensure better outcomes for patients, and make HSC an employer of choice for leading professionals. Please donate today."-Jim Eng, HSC Foundation Board Member

Your support will end wait times for diagnostic tests and surgeries, and help HSC deliver tomorrow's health care-today.

Learn more and donate at OperationExcellence.ca or call 204-515-5612 or toll-free at 1-800-679-8493.

Top industry pros to share renovation and design advice at the Winnipeg Renovation Show

WINNIPEG, MB, December 15, 2022 – The new year is right around the corner and the Winnipeg Renovation Show is back to bring together a line-up of industry-leading, home improvement experts who will share their insight at the RBC Convention Centre from January 13-15, 2023. From tips and tricks to save money during a renovation, to how to renovate a vacation on wheels and 2023 design trends, Winnipeggers will find inspiration at every turn.

Those eager to get an inside look at the experts’ top tips for tackling a renovation in the new year can see what’s to come at the Winnipeg Renovation Show below:

Adding value to any home

Back by popular demand, celebrity contractor and TV host Bryan Baeumler, star of HGTV Canada's Island of Bryan will headline the Show. Baeumler will share how to save money when renovating as well as provide advice for increasing the value of a home. “Your home is arguably the largest investment most people ever make,” Baeumler explains.

Creating Leaders at Rossbrook House

When Rossbrook House Foundation brings Rossbrook House to the RBC Convention Centre in Winnipeg next spring, the fundraising gala will be emceed by two people who know the drop-in centre very well. Colleen Simard and Dale Turcotte have inspiring stories to share at the No Child Alone Dinner, April 27.

Colleen is a volunteer Rossbrook House Board Director who hung out at the drop-in centre when she was just fifteen. “I'd come from up North and I was so happy to find a place where I could have a safe place to hang out, play pool and have a nice meal,” Colleen says.

It has been a safe place for children and youth in the Centennial neighborhood since 1976. Providing programs, activities, and daily meals continues today.

Dale is 14 and is not only a participant, he is also one of the Junior Staff. “Rossbrook House has been a second home for me ever since the day I stepped in those doors as an 8-year-old kid,” he says.

Battling Through Adversity

I'm sharing my medical story with you, hoping you'll consider supporting the Health Sciences Centre Foundation. I also hope that you'll be inspired to push through times of adversity and strive to live life to its fullest.

In October 2020, I went to an urgent care centre feeling achy, nauseous, and feverish. This was during the COVID-19 pandemic, and I had been working in the hospital as a medical student. I thought that I had the virus or the flu. I thought I'd be treated for dehydration, offered some pain relief, and be sent home. I thought wrong, and wouldn't be sent home for two months. My condition worsened quickly and dramatically. Within mere hours, my legs became very weak and I developed excruciating back pain. Soon, I couldn't feel my legs at all.

I required specialized care, and was sent to HSC Winnipeg. An MRI showed that I had transverse myelitis (inflammation of the spinal cord). After more testing, I was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), an autoimmune disease that causes the body to attack itself. The doctors explained that my SLE caused a spinal cord injury that resulted in paralysis.

The disease, its impact on my body, and the road of recovery were made clear to me. I knew the importance of this clarity as a medical student who would normally be explaining things to patients. Now I was the patient lying in bed while my dreams of becoming a plastic surgeon were dwindling.

Optima focuses on global expansion

On February 1, 1970, David Lee founded Keystone Cash Register Ltd., now known as Optima. At that time, his business focused on rebuilding, reselling and servicing mechanical cash registers.Along with two trained technicians, Lee, who had also received technical training by National Cash Register, worked out of an office on Provencher Boulevard. Lee determined that the steep competition in Winnipeg was not profitable, so he sought a way to stand out from the crowd.“I made up my mind that I didn’t want to be competing with everyone in a small city, I thought that there must be clients out of town wanting to do business,” he says.“I loaded up cash registers in my station wagon, which was painted all over saying ‘Keystone Cash Register: Sales, Service, Rentals. Why Pay More?’ Then I took a drive to Swan River.”After he arrived, he stopped at a local hotel for a slice of apple pie. When he came back out, he discovered multiple business cards tucked under his wiper blades from people looking for cash register sales and service.After three days in Swan River, he had sold all the machines in his station wagon, while also collecting fees for service. After that, he branched out to other Manitoba communities, such as The Pas, where he became the go-to guy for everything register-related.“We had to walk the road less travelled. We gained all this business in rural Manitoba, and that became our mode of operation. At the same time, people in these communities didn’t have to go to the city to buy a cash register because they knew I’d be coming there soon in my billboard car,” Lee says.“If we hadn’t done this, we’d be struggling in the city where nobody knows us. We’d be fighting to sell one or two machines. Our ideas about export began when we started to ship to rural Manitoba by bus.”In 1982, a decade after the company was incorporated, Lee approached a customer who repeatedly ordered three cash registers at a time. He found out the man was shipping the machines to Argentina for his uncle to sell. A new law in Argentina required all businesses to have a cash register, Lee explains.Lee flew to Argentina and met with the military government, providing advice about how to manage the distribution for the entire country. At the end of the conversation, Lee left with an order for 10,000 electronic cash registers.“This stabilized our company,” recalled Lee, who speaks Spanish fluently. “But things were changing because there were now electronic cash registers (ECRs).”In 1986, Lee noticed that a cash register company called Sweda was falling behind in its technology. He spoke to the boss of Sweda’s Dallas-based office and told him he could save their company. As a result, he began sending containers each month of Uniwell ECRs, designed by Optima, created in custom colours for the company. Lee also flew to Mexico City to visit the privately owned Sweda branch and the owner decided to buy ECRs from him directly.At the same time, Lee began doing business in the Caribbean, including the Dominican Republic.In the 1990s, he started to sell fiscal registers to Argentina and Brazil. ECR sales to other global destinations continued, including to Ukraine, Slovakia, Pakistan, Cuba and beyond. He offered an incentive program called Key Bucks to encourage Dealers to sell his products.“With an export business, you just can’t keep going where everyone else is going,” Lee says.Throughout the decades, the Manitoba Company continued to remain on the cutting edge of the industry. During the pandemic, they began to assemble their own line of made-in-Canada point-of-sale systems, complete with their own GoPOS software, called the APOS series.Lee’s son Jason is vice-president of sales and operations for the family business. He recently joined the World Trade Centre Winnipeg’s Trade Accelerator Program (TAP) to gain information about selling their new product globally.“The TAP program allowed myself and Alex Yero, who handles operations in South America, to learn more about what was offered through the World Trade Centre. We learned a lot on how to continue what my father was doing as well as other ways of reaching out,” he says.“By taking the TAP program, it allowed us to safely export our business into other countries to expand. That’s where the TAP program was very useful for us.”Marking a milestone, Optima (formerly Keystone Cash Registers) is the 100th graduate of the Trade Accelerator Program. And through TAP, Optima recently connected with the Canadian consulates in Colombia and Chile.“The consulates reassure us that the businesses we’re dealing with outside the country are legitimate, which removes a lot of legwork that my father had to do himself in the old days,” he says.“Today, for other companies to expand and start exporting, there are a lot more tools available. My advice to them is to research, contact the World Trade Centre, ask questions about the markets you want to go after — and just go for it. The TAP program is very educational.”Likewise, David Lee offers a few words of wisdom as the founder and President of the successful company.“You have to think out of the box,” he says. “When you get out of the box, the world opens up.”

To learn more about Optima, visit www.optimagopos.ca. To learn more about World Trade Centre Winnipeg’s Trade Accelerator Program, visit https://www.wtcwinnipeg.com/trade-accelerator-program/

Physiotherapists supporting Manitobans with disabilities

Most people know someone in their life who is affected by a disability in some way. Whether this is an intellectual or physical disability, one acquired later in life or at birth, a common thread is that Physiotherapy can and should play an important role in helping individuals live, and live well, with a disability.

Because disability takes on many forms and presentations, there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to Physiotherapy treatment. Rather, your Physiotherapist will work with you and your support network to create a treatment plan that focuses on individual goals, which may include promoting gross motor development in your infant or child, returning to a prior level of function, accessing your home and community environment, reducing pain, improving participation in leisure and recreation activities, or returning home following a hospital stay. Whatever the goal, improving quality of life is the fundamental backbone of Physiotherapy.

As trained professionals in rehabilitation, mobility equipment and accessibility, Physiotherapists are well-equipped to help you meet your goals as part of an interdisciplinary team. They may use their skills to determine and treat underlying causes of pain or limitations in movement and function, respiratory techniques to help with airway clearance or appropriate transfer/lift methods. Physiotherapists may also provide recommendations on gross motor development, individualized stretching/exercise programs, wheelchair and seating systems, and other equipment such as positioning devices, orthotics, mobility equipment and mobility aids.

Physiotherapists in Manitoba treat individuals with disabilities in a variety of environments. You may see one in hospital upon an initial injury or diagnosis for early mobility, respiratory techniques, equipment and positioning. Physiotherapists may also be part of your rehabilitation journey either in an inpatient, outpatient clinic or home-based setting to improve mobility and independence and to maximize participation in the community. You may encounter Physiotherapists working in private homes, daycares, schools, adult day programs and workplaces delivering care to best support Manitobans with disabilities over the course of their lifetime. Physiotherapists can continue to play a role in your health over the long term, in order to prevent secondary complications of disability and encourage lifelong activity and participation.

A community campaign for surgical innovation at HSC

"We are at a pivotal time in health care in Manitoba and I am confident that Operation Excellence is the right way forward. This campaign is a game-changer and I am proud to support it."-Mike Moore, Operation Excellence Donor

Your support will end wait times for diagnostic tests and surgeries, and help HSC deliver tomorrow's health care-today.

Learn more and donate at OperationExcellence.ca or call 204-515-5612 or toll-free at 1-800-679-8493.

Second Chances Happen Here

Across our city and province there are animals (and their humans) in crisis. Many are simply looking for their next meal. It takes many heroes to help keep the Winnipeg Hu-mane Society (WHS) in operation and working to ensure no animal goes hungry.

Sadia and Sharukh volunteer their time as WHS Emergency Pet Food Bank Drivers, collecting and distributing pet food for families in need. Growing up in the Islamic faith, they were encouraged to donate, a core belief and practice of Islam.

“It is important to both of us to give back to the community in any way we can, whether it’s financially or with our time,” says Sharukh. So every month, Sadia and Sharukh load up their car and deliver much needed pet supplies to families who need a helping hand.

These two heroes, plus countless others have delivered food to 1040 families this year, keeping furry bellies full and pets in their homes. We can’t do it without you.

Canadians’ financial confidence and trust in the economy down: IG Wealth Management report

Canadians’ overall financial confidence has dropped 11 per cent in the last year and trust in the economy is declining, according to a new report.

IG Wealth Management’s fifth annual Financial Confidence Index, which tracks and reports on Canadians’ overall financial confidence through 10 survey questions, has found that Canadians aged 35 to 54 reported the largest decrease in confidence, down 17 per cent from 2021.

“While Canadians are concerned about volatile markets, inflationary pressures and rising interest rates, interestingly, many remain relatively confident about the state of their personal financial situation,” said Christine Van Cauwenberghe, Head of Financial Planning at IG Wealth Management.

“It was their concern for the overall economy, and where things could be headed, that was primarily responsible for the decrease in their overall financial confidence, with most Canadians believing the country is currently in recession.”

When your need is urgent

“Kelley, we need to reboot your heart."

Kelley Turnbull and her husband, Rick, had been watching TV at home one evening in the fall of 2017, and her heart rate had shot up to 140 beats per minute, twice her normal resting heart rate. She could feel it racing. Rick rushed her to St. Boniface Hospital’s Emergency Department, where she was seen right away. Three months before her visit to Emergency, Turnbull had open-heart surgery at St. Boniface to replace her aortic valve. The mechanical valve she now had sounded to her like a Timex wristwatch in her chest, and she could hear it ticking away. She wondered if she was in trouble. Startled, she asked, “What do you mean by ‘reboot’? Like a laptop computer?”

“We’re going to use a drug to stop your heart,” the physician in the room explained. “Then, the same drug will start it again, and it will return to a normal rate.” She knew she didn’t have a choice. A nurse held her hand because she was scared.

“Busy as they were in the Emergency Department, it wasn’t, the hustle-bustle, rush me through. They took the time at St. Boniface to let me know I was going to be OK, and I was,” she said. “I felt secure, and that’s an amazing feeling when you’re going through something traumatic.” It was time. Her husband was with her. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, her heart was beating normally. The reboot had worked!

A community campaign for surgical innovation at HSC

"With the support of generous Manitobans, we can ensure that HSC stays on the leading edge of health care for years to come. Together, we will equip HSC with the latest in diagnostic and surgical technology for all Manitobans. Thank you for your support!"

-Tina Jones, O.M., Chair, HSC Foundation Board of Directors

Your support will end wait times for diagnostic tests and surgeries, and help HSC deliver tomorrow's health care-today.

Learn more and donate at OperationExcellence.ca or call 204-515-5612 or toll-free at 1-800-679-8493.

Momentum builds for MoveMobility

A growing Manitoba business is driving forward with its efforts to help others by removing barriers to transportation and health care.

MoveMobility got its start by designing and manufacturing wheelchair-accessible conversions to original equipment manufactured vehicles. CEO Richard Jones began pondering vehicle modifications 30 years ago in an attempt to find safer and more comfortable ways to transport his sister-in-law, who lives with spina bifida.

“It sowed the seeds of why we’re in business — we like to care for individuals who need a safe method of transportation. We were in a completely different market space for vehicle modifications and we were getting asked if we do wheelchair-accessible vehicles. That led us into the market here in Winnipeg,” he says.

“There was no one doing it and there was such a demand. Advance to today and we’ve developed a range of innovative solutions for safe transportation. We have a solution that’s economical and meets industry standards and safety codes.”

Meet Bereket Ezuz

If you reflect on some of your happiest memories, what would they be? A celebratory meal at your favourite restaurant? The first meal you shared with your partner, or the look on your child's face when you brought their birthday cake aglow with candles?

In many cultures, the act of eating with others is a major means of bonding. As someone who was born and raised in Eritrea, Africa, where eating together is so significant that families eat from one plate, you can imagine the physical and emotional pain I endured when I started being unable to swallow food and felt anxious eating around others. I had trouble swallowing for a few years, but it wasn't until 2018 when the strain built to an intolerable level. My family doctor referred me to Dr. Biniam Kidane, a thoracic surgeon at HSC Winnipeg.

Dr. Kidane discovered I had Zenker's diverticulum, a pouch that forms at the beginning of the digestive tract. The pouch formed because the muscle between my throat and esophagus would not relax while swallowing. Because of this, food would get stuck in my throat or pouch, causing regurgitation. If left untreated, I ran the risk of aspiration pneumonia-an infection from food and saliva getting trapped in my lungs, choking, malnutrition-among other horrible outcomes.

Dr. Kidane performed a Z-POEM procedure-a new, highly specialized, non-invasive technique. Thanks to Dr. Kidane - a renowned thoracic surgeon and one of the few doctors who perform this procedure in North America-I went home the next day and regained my ability to eat almost immediately. Prior to 2018, I would have had open surgery where my neck would be cut to find the pouch. Thanks to HSC Foundation donors, I received a procedure that was more precise, with less recovery time, fewer complications, less pain-and freed up the operating room and staff resources as this procedure now happens in the donor-funded Wilf Taillieu Thoracic Surgery Clinic and Endoscopy Unit.