Care and constraint: Healthcare worker and policy responses to Winnipeg’s AIDS crisis, 1983-1995

The AIDS pandemic that began in the early 1980s challenged Canada’s healthcare responses as the disease quickly emerged as a leading cause of premature mortality. Dasha’s project investigates healthcare professionals’ contributions in the city of Winnipeg by exploring doctors’ and nurses’ work during the crisis, and the delivery of care in clinics and hospitals. Healthcare professionals were central to supporting people who were HIV-positive, but healthcare was also a site of tension for both workers and people living with AIDS. Healthcare policy slowly responded to the evolving crisis, while frontline workers responded to changing circumstances on the ground. As such, Dasha’s research will contribute to a better understanding of the strategies frontline workers developed to provide compassionate care to HIV-positive patients amid growing stigma, fear, and limited resources. It will offer new insights into the everyday realities of healthcare workers during an important moment in Winnipeg’s health history.