Local News
QDoc: a new venture that promises to change the way patients interact with doctors
By BERNIE BELLAN It was in May of this year when I read an article in the Winnipeg Free Press by business reporter Martin Cash which told of a new venture that was going to provide an entirely new way for people who needed to see a doctor for urgent care. The venture was known as QDoc and it was the brainchild of two members of our local Jewish community: Dave Berkowits and Dr. Norm Silver.
As Cash wrote at the time, “it is being designed as the Uber for medical clinics to help link local patients, especially the elderly, parents with young children and people in remote locations far from a hospital or medical centre easily and quickly — and at no cost — with local physicians using an innovative patent-pending technology.”
Fascinated as I was by Cash’s story – and subsequent stories in other news media, including on Global TV and CTV News, I thought it was early days and, rather than contact Silver and Berkowits immediately to write a story of my own, I would wait a few months to see how QDoc had evolved in that time.
Recently I sat down with Berkowits and Silver at their downtown Winnipeg office to find our more about how QDoc has progressed – and to try to obtain a better understanding of just who it is that QDoc is most likely to help.
As it was explained to me during the course of the lengthy conversation I had with Silver and Berkowits, QDoc is “designed for episodic care” – similar to what is available at the groundbreaking Minor Illness and Injury Clinic on Corydon, the concept for which both Silver and Berkowits helped develop.
I asked Berkowits and Silver to tell me about their respective backgrounds prior to becoming involved with QDoc.
Berkowits said that he’s long been involved “on the technical side. I’ve spent my whole career mostly in diagnostic imaging. Recently I spent 15 years commuting from Winnipeg to Calgary. This is very exciting because now it’s a chance to be at home – and a chance to work with Norm. Norm is very passionate about medical technology.”
Silver jumped in at that point to say that he had recently retired from his position as an emergency room paediatric physician – “as of July 1st,” he explained. “I really did only five or five shifts the past year,” he noted, as he’s been devoting his full time to developing QDoc.
Silver added that “Dave has loads of experience in technology, but a huge amount of his experience is medical related as well, and my area is medical, but I’m familiar with programming as well.”
I asked how long they’ve known each other?
“Many years,” Silver answered.
I asked how old they were?
Berkowits said he’s 60, while Silver said he’s 50, adding that “Dave looks younger while I look older.”
I asked whether Norm is the oldest of the three very well known Silver brothers (the other two being dermatologist Shane and financial planner Michael).
Silver said that he is – older than Shane by a year and a half, and six years older than Michael.
Dave Berkowits’s younger brother, by the way, is Rady JCC Executive Director Rob Berkowits. Dave Berkowits’s sister, Heather, is actually married to Norm Silver. There is also another sister in the Berkowits family: Heather. Dave is the oldest of the four Berkowits siblings, he said, with 10 years between him and Heather, who is the youngest of the four.
Silver noted that he and Berkowits have become especially close the past 10 years – often working out together at the Rady JCC, “where we try to solve the world’s medical technology problems.”
I wondered where the idea for QDoc came from?
Silver said that “one of us would come up with an idea – and we basically had no ego about these things – and one of us would say, ‘Here’s a great idea,’ and the other would say, ‘Yah, but maybe we should do it this way instead,’ and in the end we would come up with a way better idea than either one of us would have come up with on his own.”
It was just about a year ago that QDoc did what is known as a “soft launch”. Silver and Berkowits had received help from a variety of sources, of which key assistance came from something known as North Forge Technology Exchange. North Forge is an organization supported by a number of private businesses that provides support and advice for start-ups in the technology sector. QDoc began with $1 million in capital, all of which was raised in Manitoba. Both Silver and Berkowits poured a lot of their own money into the venture.
At that point I wanted to explore just how it is that QDoc works. Silver and Berkowits suggested that I actually go online and register on QDoc to see how easy it is to access their system.
Subsequently, I did that following my conversation with them. I went to the QDoc home page and filled out the information needed to register and complete a patient profile. It was simply a matter of giving some very basic data, including name, address, phone number, and medical numbers (both the 6 digit number and the 9 digit number that all Manitobans have).
Once that was completed there is an optional area in which you can give information about allergies, your family doctor’s name, and the name and address of a pharmacy to which you might want a prescription sent – if that is a result of your online visit with a doctor.
At that point you are asked to fill out information explaining why you would like to see a doctor. If you have pictures that might be useful to a doctor in understanding your situation, you are asked to upload them.
Then, you would click on a button that says “I am ready for the doctor.”
That’s where QDoc works like Uber, as Martin Cash noted in his May article. At any given time there are doctors available to speak with you. Given the information you’ve just provided, QDoc will determine which available doctor is best suited to respond to your query and, within minutes you should be contacted by a doctor.
Berkowits explained: “We look at things like geographic location. Then the doctors who are available will get text messages on their phone – and, just like Uber, the first one to answer the text will connect with you.”
Silver also noted that “95% of the patients who contact QDoc have been ‘self-triaging’” and have had experience explaining their symptoms when they’ve presented in person either to a doctor’s office, an urgent care centre, or an emergency room.
During the course of our conversation though, several times Silver and Berkowits remarked upon the fact that, as QDoc has grown rapidly in terms of the number of patient visits, it’s become apparent that the vast majority of users are rural based – upwards of 75% at the present time, Silver said.
“In the rural areas, it’s hard to see a doctor,” he noted. And, although there has been quite a bit of publicity about QDoc in media, as I noted at the outset, it’s been primarily through word of mouth that people have become aware of QDoc.
Others “have said their pharmacists told them about QDoc,” Silver added. “Or someone else might have called a quick care clinic, but were told they couldn’t be seen and were suggested to try QDoc instead. Health Links has recommended us. So have emergency rooms.”
Looking back to his own education in medical school, which was over 25 years ago, Silver said that, long before “virtual care” became a reality (and which really came into its own as a result of Covid), “70-90% of diagnoses were shown to be able to be made by history alone; that’s without seeing the patient. When you look at adding video and talking to the patient, we know from our own metrics that 95% of diagnoses can be done without having to touch the patient.”
He added that studies in BC and Ontario have shown that when people were asked what they thought of virtual care, “98% thought it was as good as, if not better than in-person care.”
I was curious though, as to what the doctors who were standing by to receive texts from QDoc would be doing when they’re not actually working with QDoc.
“They all have other jobs,” Silver explained. “I’d say 80% of them are emergency physicians – because they do shift work.”
I wondered how many QDoc visits require referrals to other doctors? (In the Free Press article, Martin Cash told the story of a woman who contacted QDoc when her seven-year-old son was hit with a baseball bat. The doctor who responded to her query arranged for her son to see an ear, nose, and throat specialist the next day.)
But, as Silver explained, that would have been the exception rather than the rule when it comes to consultations with a doctor on QDoc, saying that “95% of our patients are taken care of without any other help” needed from any other doctors.
Also, since those first reports of QDoc in various media appeared in May, QDoc has been able to assemble quite a bit more information about how the program is being utilized. For one, there’s been a monthly volume increase of 70% month over month each of the past four months. (There were 144 visits to QDoc in May, but well over 1,000 in August.) As a result of all the new data that’s been gathered based on who’s been using QDoc It’s been a constantly evolving learning curve, Silver explained, but they’ve now arrived at some interesting observations, including: “15% of our patients would have gone to the emergency department if we didn’t exist and, (as has already been noted) 76% of our patients are from outside of Winnipeg – that’s where the need is.”
As far as how patients interact with the doctors, I wondered about the software that’s used?
“We have our own software that we’ve built from scratch,” Berkowits explained. “It’s an end to end encrypted video conversation. The audio side of it is recorded and kept as part of a medical record.”
“So it protects the doctor – and the patient,” Silver added.
In terms of what the patient would actually see on their computer screen, here is how it was explained to me: The screen would show: “We are searching for a doctor for you.” Then, “when the doctor accepts the call, they would hit the link on their computer or mobile device and doctor and patient would be connected together, with both audio and video. The doctor would be writing notes and ordering prescriptions, if necessary, while the patient might be asked to upload pictures or, with video, show the doctor if they have, for instance, skin lesions or, say, it’s your son who’s having trouble breathing, the doctor could examine him on camera.
Then, the doctor could fax a prescription to a pharmacy of your choosing. (It may seem archaic but prescriptions are still faxed into pharmacies in Manitoba, rather than sent digitally.) If lab tests are needed, the patient can receive an order for tests that can be printed out and taken to a lab.
The results of those tests will be sent to the doctor who ordered the tests, but if, for instance, the patient didn’t actually go for the tests that the doctor might have ordered, QDoc will send a follow-up communication to the patient saying “You forgot.”
What QDoc also does, at the end of every interaction between a doctor and patient, is ask the patient whether QDoc can send a copy of the report prepared by whichever doctor has treated that particular patient to that patient’s family doctor.
I asked whether QDoc is available 24/7?
The answer was “Yes. We don’t always have coverage 24/7,” but the system will respond 24/7 and, if there is no doctor available at a particular moment you’ll be told that.
Currently, according to Silver, there are “34” doctors in the QDoc system. “We want it be as attractive as possible for doctors working with us, so we want to give them a lot of work. Most of them are pretty motivated. Eighty percent of our paediatric patients right now are seen within five minutes of logging on.”
Another benefit of QDoc is that the 34 doctors who presently make up the total number of physicians on call at present are all connected through WhatsApp, where they share information and can discuss particular cases.
Silver gave this example: “A doctor who’s seeing a patient who happens to be in Brandon and who should really be seen by a doctor in person can ask on WhatsApp: “Is there anyone in Brandon who can see such and such patient tomorrow?” and a physician in Brandon can respond, “Yes, I can see your patient.” (Since the likelihood is that Brandon doctor is an emergency room physician, he or she will also likely say: “Tell your patient to come to emergency and tell the nurse that I’ve agreed to see your patient.”
As Berkowits observed, “virtual health care – since the pandemic, has become widely accepted, but the platform that we’ve built is widely collaborative.”
Something that Silver added – about emergency room physicians, is that quite often they’ll deal with a case such as a car accident or a drug overdose where a patient may present in an unconscious or semi-conscious state, the doctor treats them, the patient wakes up – and can be quite belligerent. But treating a patient virtually, where the doctor is able to give immediate and effective treatment – and the patient is very much appreciative – well, that’s very rewarding for emergency doctors – and is one of the reasons so many of them are flocking to join QDoc.
I suggested to Silver and Berkowits though, that someone would have to have either a computer or a mobile device in order to contact Doc.
While they didn’t totally disagree, Silver gave an example of a new initiative that’s been taken in cooperation with the public sector as an example how QDoc can be used to help patients who have no access to a computer:
“We have a partnership with something called the Downtown Community Safety Partnership,” he explained. “They’re relatively new and they’re funded by government. They’re working with homeless people. If they can get the money, they’re going to be carrying tablets and then they can help homeless people contact us. A lot of these people don’t go to a doctor, they don’t go to a hospital, they don’t trust authority.” But, as Silver noted, a doctor from QDoc might be in the best position to provide help – through a worker from this downtown organization.
Similarly, QDoc will also be working with one personal care home by installing a large screen TV through which residents, with the help of an aide, will be able to communicate with a doctor.
I wondered though, whether an initiative of that sort wouldn’t be perceived as taking the place of a visit to a family doctor?
Silver said that wouldn’t be the purpose, but where it would make sense would be, for example, if a resident suddenly developed a rash – and it might take weeks to see a family doctor.
Again, it occurred to me that there could often be a language barrier between patients and doctors on QDoc. I wondered whether QDoc had any contingencies in place that might help to resolve difficulties of that sort.
Berkowits said that “there are translation services that are free from the government and we’re going to try and partner in real time so that we’ll have three people involved in a virtual call: the patient, the doctor, and the interpreter,” but, he admitted that’s not on the immediate horizon.
I asked how much QDoc could conceivably grow, especially if it continues at its current rate of 70% expansion every month?
Silver answered that “we’d like to get to one per cent market share.”
I asked what he meant by that?
He said it “translates into $15 million of revenue.”
I asked how many patients would have to use QDoc’s service to reach that goal?
He said it “would be 150,000 patient contacts a year.”
In the long term the goal is to open up in every province in Canada, Silver added.
As far as how much money QDoc makes on every call, they take 15% of whatever amount the physician would bill Manitoba Health Services.
Considering that Berkowits and Silver have some pretty serious ambitions to grow their company, starting first in Manitoba, then in all of Canada, with the possibility of licensing their software to other countries as well, I asked whether they’re looking for additional investors?
“We’ve talked about that a little bit,” Silver said. “But, we don’t think we need investors. We’ve been able to get a lot of grants so far ($200,000 worth, he specified). “We should be cash flow neutral by early next year – if we don’t keep hiring more programmers.” (He explained that currently QDoc has 10 programmers.)
I asked Berkowits, who’s the software guru behind QDoc, what more needs to be done with the existing software powering QDoc?
“We have a list of features that we want to keep introducing,” he explained. “When we started out initially we were pretty happy for just a patient and doctor to connect. But, as we built this out we started taking a look at other electronic medical record systems and how they do things, we also want to make it easier and better for the physician. We want to work on our platform.”
Berkowits then went on to describe some of the enhancements that DocQ would like to make, including incorporating: “Artificial intelligence, natural language processing, ambient listening, conscription services.” (There’s not enough room to expand upon each of those subjects here. Suffice to say that this is an entirely new world of virtual medicine that Berkowits and Silver are planning on entering.)
At the end of our conversation Silver suggested that, in addition to trying the QDoc portal to see how easy it is to register as a patient, I take a look at the reviews QDoc has received from patients. Now, while I’m always a little bit sceptical of online reviews, the number of Google reviews that I was able to see (69 as of the date I looked at them – Sept. 4) showed unanimous praise for QDoc. While this article was not intended as an endorsement of QDoc – although it might certainly be perceived that way, the high praise QDoc has received thus far from patients is certainly an indication that Berkowits and Silver have hit upon something that promises to fill a desperate need within our health care system.
Norm Silver had also suggested that I might want to talk with at least one of the doctors who is working with QDoc to get a sense of what a doctor’s perspective is on the QDoc platform.
I spoke with Dr. Taft Micks, who is an emergency room physician based out of Brandon. As I expected – given that Dr. Micks had volunteered to speak with me after having been contacted by Dr. Silver, he was quite enthusiastic about his experience with QDoc thus far. He told me that he’s been with QDoc from the very beginning – which goes back to last October.
As an emergency physician, Dr. Micks said that he’s constrained by several of the limitations that apply to the delivery of emergency medicine in this province. He noted that “I don’t fee like I can take the time to address people’s needs in emergency,” but when he’s on QDoc, “I’m able to connect with a patient almost instantaneously” and “from a physician’s perspective, I’m able to arrange treatment.”
Micks added that he’s like to see emergency services expanded, but he’s quite aware that’s not realistic at this point. And, even though he’d be prepared to put in more hours in the emergency ward in Brandon, where he’s currently working 32 hours a week, Micks is quite aware that expanding emergency services will require hiring more nurses – a problem that won’t be resolved in the short term.
As a result, he’s been spending increasing amounts of time working with QDoc and, he added, he’s hoping to scale back the amount of time he’ll be spending in the emergency department as a result.
Micks observed that what QDoc is doing “is the future of medicine.”
“The software is designed to be as physician friendly as possible – as opposed to other software” that he and other physicians have struggled to learn, he said.
His only concern, he noted, is that as QDoc becomes increasingly popular, wait times to interact with a physician might take longer, but in the meantime he said he’s been quite impressed with how the system has been working thus far.
Local News
Local foodie finds fame by trying foods on Facebook Marketplace
By BERNIE BELLAN Disclaimer: The subject of this story is my daughter, but don’t hold that against me.
Shira Bellan is an intrepid adventurer when it comes to trying out new foods. A while ago, as she explained in an interview conducted with her by CJOB’s Hal Anderson on January 28, Shira was just laying on her couch scrolling through Facebook Marketplace when she came up with the idea of trying different foods and posting her reactions to them – first on Facebook, then when she developed a following – on Instagram, followed by a YouTube channel and, at my suggestion, on TikTok. She now has tens of thousands of followers all over the world, with her audience growing every day.
Following are excerpts from the interview:
Anderson: How did you come up with this idea?
Bellan: Honestly, I was just, uh, laying on my couch browsing Marketplace like I often do, and I kept seeing food pop up and I just thought it would be hilarious to start buying food and then reviewing it because I thought there were some very interesting food items on there. And I was pretty surprised that people were trying to sell them on Marketplace. And it just made me laugh. And so I thought, “Let’s do this.”
Anderson What have you found out?
Bellan: Yeah, I kind of think that it’s a bunch of family members that say to each other, “This is so good. You should sell this.” And it’s not easy to get your food into a restaurant or into a bakery. And Facebook Marketplace is thriving and it’s super easy to use for anyone of all ages, and I think Facebook is just super well known.
So I think people started putting super simple food items up there and I really think my page has made it explode a lot bigger as of lately. But I think there’s always been food on there. I just don’t think it was as big until very recently.
I’ve always seen people selling food, and I’ve gone, “Well, I wouldn’t want to try that, that doesn’t look very good, or man, that looks great. I would love to try that.”
And I think in many cases it’s food tied to an ethnicity of one kind or another that maybe we wouldn’t normally get to try in a restaurant in Winnipeg.
Anderson: Right. So good for you for doing this because you’re sort of, without me having to do it, you’re saying, “Yeah, this is worth it, or, or this one isn’t.”
Bellan: That’s exactly what I’m doing. And it’s been interesting. I’m loving chatting with the different people, the different languages, and just exploring all the foods and, and there’re some foods that I’m trying that people from that specific ethnicity are saying, “Oh God, do not eat that.”
I’ve had some good ones, I’ve had some bad ones. And for the most part though, it’s really good. I think it’s just cool to learn about other people’s heritage and what they eat and like.
Anderson: So you said – in the clip I just played (referencing a clip he played before Shira came on the air) I love that one – the butter chicken. But if you had stuff that you bought that you went, “Oh man, this is a miss.” What would you say?
Bellan: I’m quite nervous to post some of the ones I don’t like because I’m called racist multiple times a week. And I’ve tried to make it clear that when I don’t like something, it has absolutely zero to do with the culture, ethnicity, or country that the food’s from, it has everything to do with how the food tastes.
And I need to remind people that these are home chefs. I don’t know how they made the recipe. I don’t know that they followed a recipe. I don’t know that they didn’t put dog food in it. So, if I don’t like something, it doesn’t mean that it’s bad. It means that I personally did not like it.
I try to be very open-minded to foods. I don’t eat meat. I’ll occasionally eat chicken – so that kind of eliminates a lot of the foods that I’m able to buy on there. But I am very interested in all the different ethnicities and their foods. Some of ’em are very scary ’cause they’re not foods I would eat every day, but it would be very boring if I was just buying chicken fingers and fries off marketplace.
Anderson: Well, that’s how I feel sometimes, right? I mean, even, you know, even with these delivery apps now, if we decide, well, we’re gonna order in, we’ll spend sometimes way too long deciding what we’re gonna have. Because it feels like even though we have all these incredible choices, it feels like it’s the same, four or five things and we don’t feel like it.
So I I like what you’ve done. Listen, on people being critical when you say you don’t like a certain food. You’re gonna have those people – trust me, being in the business I’m in, you’re gonna have people that are gonna make that connection. And just based on what I’ve seen of your stuff I don’t get a hint at all that it’s about the people you bought it from or their ethnicity.
It’s just you aren’t a fan of that particular food. And they may have made it perfectly, but you’re just not into that food.
Bellan: Exactly, and I’ve tried some North American foods that just tasted disgusting, too. And again, it’s home chefs and as for myself – I am the worst cook on the planet.
If I put something on Marketplace and someone ate it, they wouldn’t be ridiculing me. They’d be ridiculing my horrible cooking skills. What’s more fun for me is trying these foods that I consider strange. I had a really interesting one today. It was like a slippery, slimy, gooey shrimp. I couldn’t do it.
Someone might like it, but nope. Wasn’t for me.
Anderson: Yeah, and you’ve had some really cool ones, like a fairly recent post is the marshmallow flowers. I mean, incredible, incredible.
Bellan: They tasted unbelievable too. They did not taste like a store-bought, packaged marshmallow. They had a very unique flavour and texture.
They tasted amazing. I would eat them every day and the girl who makes them puts so much time and love into them. She told me that it takes about two days to make with all the processing and all the different steps it takes, and they were so beautiful. I didn’t want to eat them, but of course I did.
Anderson: Here’s the other thing too, about what you’re doing it, and you tell me, you probably didn’t realize this when you started doing it, but in some cases where you do this and you got a lot of followers, you’re getting a lot of views.
And when you say, “man, this is really good.” That person then gets maybe more orders than they can handle, but many of them are really happy about that. You had them call you up in tears after the fact and say, you know, “I was selling these dishes to make a couple of bucks ’cause my, my family is struggling” and now they’ve got more orders than they know what to do with.
And, you have really helped them make ends meet.
If you would like to see any of Shira’s food review videos you can look for them on Instagram by entering winnipegmarketplacefoodfinds or on YouTube enter @shira_time
Local News
The Simkin Centre received over $500,000 in charitable contributions in 2025 – so why is its CEO complaining that “it cannot make the same number of bricks with less straw?”
By BERNIE BELLAN (This story was originally posted on January 14) I’ve been writing about the Simkin Centre’s aacumulated deficit situation ($779,000 according to its most recent financial report) for some time.
On January 14 I published an article on this website, in which I tried to find out why a personal care home that has an endowment fund valued at over $11 million is running such a huge deficit.
Following is that article, followed by a lengthy email exchange I had with Don Aronovitch, who is a longtime director of the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre Foundation. My purpose in writing the original article, along with the update, is I’m attempting to ascertain why the Simkin Centre simply doesn’t use more of the charitable donations it receives each year to address its financial situation rather than investing then under the management of the Jewish Foundation:
Here is the article first posted on January 14: A while back I published an article about the deficit situation at the Simkin Centre. (You can read it at “Simkin Centre deficit situation.“) I was prompted to write that particular article after reading a piece written by Free Press Faith writer John Longhurst in the August 5 issue of the Free Press about the dire situation personal care homes in Winnipeg are in when it comes to trying to provide their residents with decent food.
Yet, Longhurst made one very serious mistake in his article when he wrote that the “provincial government, through the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, has not increased the amount of funding it provides for care-home residents in Manitoba since 2009.”
In fact, the WRHA has given annual increases to personal care homes, but its allocations are not broken down by categories, such as food or salaries. As a spokesperson for the WRHA explained to me in an email: “PCHs receive per diem global operating funding based on the number of licensed beds they operate. This funding model is designed to support the full range of operating costs associated with resident care, including staffing, food services, utilities, building operations, and other day-to-day expenses.”
Now, one can make a perfectly valid argument that the level of funding from the WRHA has not kept up with inflation, especially inflation in food costs, but the Simkin Centre is in an even more precarious position because of the skyrocketing cost of kosher food.
“In recent years,” according to an article on the internet, “the cost of kosher food has increased significantly, often outpacing general food inflation due to unique supply chain pressures and specialized production requirements.”
Yet, when I asked Laurie Cerqueti how much maintaining a kosher facility has cost the Simkin Centre, as I noted in my previous article about the deficit situation at Simkin, she responded: “approximately $300,000 of our deficit was due to food services. I do not have a specific number as far as how much of the deficit is a result of kosher food…So really this is not a kosher food issue as much is it is an inflation and funding issue.”
One reader, however, after having read my article about the deficit situation at Simkin, had this to say: “In John Longhurst’s article on Aug 5, 2025 in the Free Press, Laurie (Cerqueti) was quoted as saying that the annual kosher meal costs at Simkin were $6070 per resident. At Bethania nursing home in 2023, the non-kosher meal costs in 2023 were quoted as $4056 per resident per year. Even allowing for a 15% increase for inflation over 2 years, the non-kosher food costs there would be $4664.40 or 24% lower than Simkin’s annual current kosher food costs. If Simkin served non-kosher food to 150 of its 200 residents and kosher food to half of its Jewish residents who wish to keep kosher, by my calculation it would save approximately $200,000/year. If all of Simkin’s Jewish residents wished to keep kosher, the annual savings would be slightly less at $141,000.”
But – let’s be honest: Even though many Jewish nursing homes in the US have adopted exactly that model of food service – where kosher food is available to those residents who would want it, otherwise the food served would be nonkosher, it appears that keeping Simkin kosher – even though 45% of its residents aren’t even Jewish – is a “sacred cow” (pun intended.)
So, if Simkin must remain kosher – even though maintaining it as a kosher facility is only adding to its accumulated deficit situation – which currently stands at $779,426 as of March 31, 2025,I wondered whether there were some other ways Simkin could address its deficit while still remaining kosher.
In response to my asking her how Simkin proposes to deal with its deficit situation, Laurie Cerqueti wrote: “There are other homes in worse financial position than us. There are 2 homes I am aware of that are in the process of handing over the keys to the WRHA as they are no longer financially sustainable.”
I wondered though, whether the Simkin Centre Foundation, which is managed by the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba might not be able to help the Simkin Centre reduce its deficit. According to the Jewish Foundation’s 2024 annual report, The Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre Foundation, which is managed by the Jewish Foundation, had a total value of $11,017,635.
The Jewish Foundation did distribute $565,078 to the Simkin Centre in 2024, but even so, I wondered whether it might be able to distribute more.
According to John Diamond, CEO of the Jewish Foundation, however, the bylaws of the Foundation dictate that no more than 5% of the value of a particular fund be distributed in any one year. There is one distinguishing characteristic about the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre Foundation, in that a portion of their fund is “encroachable.” The encroachable capital is not owned by JFM. It is held in trust by JFM but is beneficially owned by Simkin, similar to a “bank deposit”. While held by the JFM, these funds are included in the calculation of Simkin’s annual distribution.
I asked John Diamond whether any consideration had been given to increasing the distribution that the Jewish Foundation could make to the Simkin Centre above the 5% limit that would normally apply to a particular fund under the Foundation’s management.
Here is what John wrote in response: “The Simkin does have an encroachable fund. That means that at their request, they can encroach on the capital of that fund only (with restrictions). This encroachment is not an increased distribution; rather, it represents a return of capital that also negatively affects the endowment’s future distributions.
”It is strongly recommended that encroachable funds not be used for operating expenses. If you encroach and spend the capital, the organization will receive fewer distribution dollars in the next year and every year as the capital base erodes. Therefore, the intent of encroachable funds is for capital projects, not recurring expenses.”
I asked Laurie Cerqueti whether there might be some consideration given to asking for an “encroachment” into the capital within the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre Foundation?
She responded: “We are not in a position where we are needing to dip into the encroachable part of our endowment fund. Both of our Boards (the Simkin Centre board and the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre Foundation board) are aware of our financial situation and we are all working together to move forward in a sustainable way.”
At the same time though, I wondered where donations to the Simkin Centre end up? Do they all end up in the Simkin Centre Foundation, for instance, I asked Laurie Cerqueti on December 15.
Her response back then was: “All donations go through our Foundation.”
I was somewhat surprised to read that answer, so I asked a follow-up question for clarification: “Do all donations made to the Simkin Centre end up in the Simkin Centre Foundation at the Jewish Foundation?”
The response this time was: “No they do not.”
So, I asked: “So, how do you decide which donations end up at the Foundation? Is there a formula?”
Laurie’s response was: “We have a mechanism in place for this and it is an internal matter.”
Finally, I asked how then, the Simkin Centre was financing its accumulated deficit? Was it through a “line of credit with a bank?” I wondered.
To date, I have yet to receive a response to that question. I admit that I am puzzled that a personal care home which has a sizeable foundation supporting it would not want to dip into the capital of that foundation when it is facing a financial predicament. Yes, I can see wanting the value of the foundation to grow – but that’s for the future. I don’t know whether I’d call a $779,425 deficit a crisis; that’s for others to determine, but it seems pretty serious to me.
One area that I didn’t even touch upon in this article, though – and it’s something I’ve written about time and time again, is the quality of the food at the Simkin Centre.
To end this, I’ll refer to a quote Laurie Cerqueti gave to John Longhurst when he wrote his article about the problems personal care homes in Winnipeg are facing: “When it comes to her food budget, ‘we can’t keep making the same number of bricks with less straw.’ “
(Updated January 24): Since posting my original story January 14 I have been engaging in an email correspondence with Don Aronovitch, who is a longtime director of the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre Foundation.
On Jan. 19 I received this email from Don:
Hi Bernie,
Your burning question seems to be “Do all donations to the Simkin Centre end up going to the SC Foundation.”
In our attempts to explain the subtle workings of the Simkin Centre PCH, the Simkin Centre Foundation & the role of the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba, we somehow have failed to answer your question. I trust that the following will do the job.
All donations to the Simkin Centre (PCH & Foundation) go to the SC Foundation as a ‘custodian’ for the PCH.
Then, at the direction of the PCH, the monies, in part or in whole, are transferred to the PCH either immediately or subsequently. Further, again at the PCH’s direction, a portion may be transferred to the Foundation’s Encroachable Building Reserve Fund at the JFM.
Regards,
Don Aronovitch
I responded to Don:
But how are the monies that are transferred to the PCH treated on the financial statement?
Is everything simply rolled in as part of “Contributions from the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre Foundation?”
On Jan. 22 Don responded:
Bernie,
I said previously and I repeat that the Simkin Centre has many sharp minds and therefore, it is eminently able to effect asset management strategies appropriate to the Simkin Centre’s ‘Big Picture’ which they understand fully. Having said that, please note that:
Other than the Simkin Stroll which brings in about $100k and goes directly into the Home’s operations to support the program being promoted, the annual contributions to the Simkin Centre are relatively nominal.
The suggestion that there may be a sub rosa plan to ‘starve‘ the PCH by stashing money in the Building Reserve Fund at the JFM is absurd, totally absurd!!
Don
I responded to Don:
Don,
According to the Simkin Centre Foundation’s filing with the CRA it received $205,797 in charitable donations in 2025 plus another $387,000 from other registered charities.
Would you describe those contributions as “relatively nominal?”
But – there is no way of knowing what portion of those donations was given back to the Simkin Centre for immediate use and what portion was invested by the Jewish Foundation.
Can you tell me why not? (Laurie says that is an “internal matter.” Why?)
By the way, I never wrote there was any plan to stash “money in the Building Reserve Fund at the JFM.”
I was simply asking what is the point of building up an endowment for future use when the Simkin Centre’s needs are immediate, viz., its accumulated deficit of $779,000.
Also, have you or any other members of the board had meals for a full week at the Simkin Centre? I have spoken to many residents during my time volunteering there who told me they find the quality of the food to be very poor.
Why I’m so persistent on this point Don is that Laurie Cerqueti has been making the case – quite often – that the amount of funding the Simkin Centre receives from the WRHA is far from adequate.
But, if it’s actually the case that the Simkin Centre receives a substantial amount in charitable donations each year, but chooses to invest a good chunk of those donations rather than spend them, then it’s hardly a valid criticism to make of the WRHA that it’s funding is inadequate.
Why is it so gosh darn difficult to come up with the amount Simkin has been receiving in charitable donations?
Could it be that it’s because a lot of people would be dismayed to learn the reason is that money is being invested rather than being spent?
-Bernie
Don responded:
Bernie,
I add the following to this, my last contribution to the thread below.
First, let’s stick with individual donors as those were the references you started with. Starting with the 2025 figure of $206,000 total, deduct $105,000 (from the Simkin Stroll) and also deduct the healthy 5 figure donation (from a longtime Simkin supporter). We then have approximately $60,000 from 20/30 individuals and YES, it is what I would call “relatively nominal”.
As an fyi, I am in Palm Springs and in the past several days, I have asked 4 individuals what would be their spending expectations of a charity to which they donated $25,000. The responses were almost identical and they can be summarized as “We only support organizations where we value their mission and trust their management. In trusting their management, we believe that they know best if our money should be used for current operations, for future operations or for both.“
Don
Does it make sense to say, as Don does, that when considering the amount of charitable dollars the Simkin Centre receives, one ought to deduct the proceeds from the Simkin Stroll and a “healthy 5 figure donation?” I don’t see the logic in that.
And, I’m still wondering: How much of the more than $500,000 in charitable donations the Simkin Centre received in 2025 came back to the Simkin Centre to fund its immediate needs and how much was invested?
Local News
New community security director well-suited for the challenge
By MYRON LOVE Despite his still-young age, William Sagel, our community’s newly appointed director of security, brings a wealth of experience to his new role.
“I have always been drawn to protecting others,” observes the personable Sagel. “It may reflect the difficult time growing up, being bullied throughout elementary school. I was small for my age, and I usually found myself breaking up fights.”
His early years, he recounts, were spent growing up in Nice, on the famed Riviera, where his father worked in construction management. At the age of 10, the family moved back to Montreal.
Back in Montreal, Sagel continued his studies, graduating from high school and CEGEP, then enlisting in the armed forces.
Following his army service, he began his career with the Dutch Diplomatic Security Service. While working abroad, a banking executive encouraged him to return to school and earn a university degree.
“I chose to come back to Montreal,” he says. “That is where my family is.”
Armed with a degree in political science, he embarked on a career in security consulting.
In 2023, after years of working in Canada, William began training security forces in Mali. “I was responsible for the training department. We had around 400 security personnel, providing them the tools and skills to be more effective at what they do,” he explains.
Sagel arrived in Winnipeg on December 1 to assume his new position.
“The major focus in our security program is to build resilience and empower the community,” he explains. “Developing a plan to be able to respond properly to future crises. We establish a baseline, where you are now and where you hope to be in five years’ time.”
He notes that our Jewish community can learn from the national network and security networks already established in Montreal and Toronto to provide security and peace of mind for community members.
“I plan to work on raising security standards,” he says. “With the rise in antisemitic incidents over the years and after October 7, we need to do more to mitigate threats. We must raise awareness through education and empower community members through training.”
He speaks about encouraging more people to contribute their time to strengthening our community in any way they can, especially through volunteering. He encourages anyone who is willing to participate to reach out to him directly.
“Over the next few months,” he reports, “I will be working with institutions to put programs in place that will build resilience. The goal is to provide long-term security not only for ourselves but also for future generations.”
When asked about the hostile environment for Jewish students on university campuses, he says that he has had positive discussions with both the Winnipeg Police Service and the University of Manitoba’s director of security, who are committed to providing a more conducive learning environment for students.
As to his impressions of his new Jewish community, he has only positive things to say. “I came here alone, but everyone has been super friendly and welcoming,” he comments. “A lot of people have reached out to me. I have had a lot of dinner invitations, but unfortunately have been very busy trying to get organized and settled.”
“I am looking forward to the next few months of exploring Manitoba, its parks and museums, and seeing what the city has to offer.”