About Us

• Pharmacist
• Cardiac Rehab Program
• Skin and Wound Care Nurse
• Prenatal Nurse
• STBBI Nurse
• Social Worker
• Mental Health Worker

Portage Clinic’s Cardiac Rehab Program is the first rural program in the province of Manitoba consisting of a kinesiologist, chronic disease education nurse, social worker, dietician and pharmacist. This multi-disciplinary program helps patients and their families who have had a cardiac incident or are living with or at risk for chronic diseases such as: Arthritis, Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol, Osteoporosis, and Respiratory Disease.

They promote healthy living with a chronic disease by:

• Providing individual visits to assess, educate and develop a care plan.
• Providing ongoing education and support through follow up visits.
• Providing a smoking cessation program.
• Advocating for patients to get regular and/or early health screening and treatment.
• Providing chronic disease risk factor and complication assessments.
• Providing training and support for other regional health care professionals.

Dustin Kimber is the Chronic Disease Kinesiologist for the My Health Team in Portage and Gladstone. With his work, Dustin performs fitness assessments, develops customized exercise programs and helps to educate and support people with a variety of different fitness and mobility levels in taking the next step in their overall health and fitness. Lauren Doell the “heart nurse” meets with patients and supports them in learning to live with their new diagnosis
individually and in group settings.

The Skin and Wound Care Nurse provides testing, treatment, education and follow up care for wounds as well as provides Anti-Brachial Index testing.

The Prenatal Nurse takes a comprehensive approach to providing high quality care to women throughout pregnancy. The nurse is a dedicated and compassionate professional who creates a safe and respectful environment to address all your prenatal care needs. They work closely with community agencies like Families First, the Family Resource Centre, Public Health, Child & Family Services and many more. They will assist you in identifying resources that are beneficial during pregnancy and delivery and will help you navigate your way through the healthcare system, ensuring you receive the best care possible during your pregnancy. You do not need a family physician in order to attend prenatal appointments. Portage Clinic currently has physicians accepting new patients and many of the Portage Clinic physicians will see prenatal patients on a one-time only basis.

The STBBI Nurse provides testing, treatment and follow up care for sexually transmitted infections. They work collaboratively with our physicians to coordinate patient management, along with providing preventative health care education and assistance with community resources for new diagnosis of HIV and Hepatitis. The nurse is located in the Portage Clinic, however, does travel to outlying communities and works with other local health centres. Appointments can be made directly with the nurse and do not require a referral from a physician.

Social workers are health professionals who work with individuals, families, groups and communities to enhance their well-being. They can help you connect to programs and services as well as help with life skills and life stressors. Social work services are available to patients at no charge by referral from your physician and are completely confidential and voluntary. Talk to your care provider about seeing Portage Clinic’s on-site Social Worker.

The Shared Care Program is a mental health service that involves collaboration between family physicians, shared care (mental health) counsellor and psychiatry services in order to meet the mental health needs of patients in a primary care setting. The Shared Care Counsellor will complete a mental
health assessment, review cases with psychiatry services as indicated and provide recommendations for treatment. This could involve connecting patients with services outside of the clinic if this will best serve the patient’s needs. The Shared Care counsellor will also provide short-term counselling that is focused on building patients’ skills to help manage their current mental difficulty. Shared Care services are voluntary, provided to adolescents, teens, and adults and are accessed via a referral from your family physician or the Teen Clinic at Portage Collegiate Institute.

The Portage Clinical Teaching Unit is a select group of community physicians chosen by the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba to teach medical trainees. Trainees are assigned to Portage Clinic physicians to learn patient-care skills by working closely with our physicians and health care team. As a patient, you should know that the presence of a medical trainee means that your doctor has been identified as not only an exceptional physician, but also an exceptional role model and teacher. The Clinical Teaching Unit is responsible for teaching 3rd and 4th year medical students as well as doctors who are specializing in family medicine (residents). Portage Clinic is one of the nine rural teaching programs which also include Dauphin, Brandon, Morden/Winkler, Steinbach, Selkirk, Thompson, Northern Remote and St. Anne/Notre Dame. Students spend five weeks in the Portage Clinic as part of a rural rotation, while residents may spend anywhere from 7 months to 18 months during their two-year family medicine residency.

Having multiple students at one site is considered a strength of the program. While at the Portage Clinic, the students and residents see patients in the clinic and hospital. They participate in surgery and are expected to be on call for the emergency department and for delivering babies. All students are supervised by an attending physician, but the level of supervision depends on the students’ level of training. A patient seeing a med student should expect to see their own family physician; however, a family medicine resident may feel comfortable dealing with a patient on their own. All patient charts are reviewed with an attending physician by the end of the day. Portage Clinic physicians are committed to teaching and they encourage you as a patient to engage a student. We believe that teaching keeps Portage Clinic physicians current and is an excellent tool for recruitment and sustainability in the community. Several of the physicians that are presently practicing in Portage Clinic first came here as students and/or residents.

Portage Clinic physicians appreciate the willingness of their patients to involve a student in their care and believe it will continue to be a positive experience!

Narrowband UVB Phototherapy is an effective treatment for many skin conditions including: Psoriasis, Alopecia, Vitiligo, Pruritus, Atopic Dermatitis and others. A referral must be made by your family physician to Dr. Marni Wiseman at SKiNWISE DERMATOLOGY in order to receive treatment. Portage Clinic’s UVB treatment area is located in the Walk-In Clinic and is available during regular Walk-In hours for your convenience. NO APPOINTMENT is necessary; treatments are available on a walk-in basis. For more information regarding UVB Phototherapy contact SKiNWISE Dermatology at 204-943-4922 or call Portage Clinic directly.