Winnipeg hospital mentioned on Grey's Anatomy

Winnipeg hospital gets nod on Grey’s Anatomy St. Boniface Hospital was abuzz after it got a couple mentions in an episode of popular American TV drama Wednesday night.

St. Boniface Hospital played a role in an episode of Grey’s Anatomy Wednesday, getting a couple of mentions on the hit medical television show.

In the episode, doctors receive a call from a staff member at St. Boniface in Winnipeg about a blood donor with a rare blood type known as Rh-null, causing confusion.

At the real St. Boniface Hospital, the mention caused a different reaction – excitement.

“People are talking about it all over the hospital, all over the community, it’s a fantastic thing,” said Vince Barletta, president and CEO of St. Boniface Hospital Foundation.

He said they had no notice the name drop would be coming.

“Certainly didn’t have any idea that it was going to happen, but certainly heard about it as soon as it did,” Barletta said, saying it’s “wonderful” when Canadian or Winnipeg institutions get high profile mentions on TV.

“I think when people hear about St. Boniface Hospital on a show like Grey’s Anatomy, they’re a little bit surprised to hear that name. But the reality is, those of us that work at St. Boniface Hospital, we aren’t surprised at all. Because we know that facilities like the St. Boniface Research Centre are some of the top medical research facilities in North America,” Barletta said, mentioning St. Boniface’s big name research partners, like the Mayo Clinic and the University of Rome.

“I think there’s a certain modesty that we have here in Manitoba, and maybe we’re not as prone to toot our own horn as some other jurisdictions are. We need to do more of that, frankly.”

Barletta said the situation that unfolded in the show isn’t likely to happen, but it isn’t unusual for hospitals to work together.

“As far as I understand it, this issue of Rh-null blood, is something that is a very rare case indeed, maybe there’s 50 individuals worldwide that have that blood type. So, certainly it would be something that if hospitals are collaborating together, and that blood was available here at St. Boniface, I’m sure that word would get around pretty quickly,” Barletta said.

While social media users reacted positively for the most part, there was some criticism over how St. Boniface was pronounced.

“Sometimes the Americans say words a little differently than we do up here, so you gotta cut ‘em a little bit of slack,” said Barletta.