2nd quick care clinic opens in Winnipeg

The Manitoba government has opened a second quick care clinicin Winnipeg, designed to treat minor ailments.

The latest clinic,locatedat 17 St. Marys Road in St. Boniface, will start seeing patients onNov. 26.

There have been more than 7,500 patient visits to the citys first quick care clinic on McGregor Avenue since it opened in January.

"Quick care clinics, staffed with nurse practitioners and nurses, offer families a convenient alternative for common health concerns, and it's an alternative that's also more cost effective than visiting an ER or walk-in clinic," Manitobas Health Minister Theresa Oswald said Friday during the official opening of the St. Boniface location.

"We know people don't need care just between 9 and 5, which is why these new quick care clinics are open evenings, weekends and holidays, so they are there when families need them most."

The quick care clinics can diagnose and treat non-urgent care needs such as:

• Bumps, bruises or sprains.
• Rashes, eczema, infected cuts or minor sores.
• Sore throats, earaches, colds & flu, coughs, hay fever or nosebleeds
• Immunizations (including this seasons flu vaccine)
• Stomach pain, diarrhea and vomiting
• Headache, back or neck pain
• Breast feeding issues
• Sexual health-related issues, including birth control
• Stress or anxiety
• Minor medical issues in children

The province, in its 2010 throne speech,promised to ensure every Manitoban has a family doctor by 2015.

To do that, the government said it will rely heavily on quick care clinics to bestaffed by nurse practitioners, thereby freeing up doctors from the minor treatments.

There are four such clinics so far in the province.

In addition to the two in Winnipeg, there is a clinic in Steinbach'sClearspring Mall, and another on Manitoba Avenue in Selkirk.