'Prehab' program to open at Pan Am Clinic

Manitoba'sprovincial government is investing $600,000 to expand its "prehabilitation" program to the Pan Am Clinic in Winnipeg.

The program sees a medical team including doctors, physiotherapists, social workers and dieticians help patients get ready for hip or knee replacement surgery, primarily focusing on diet, exercise and medication.

Experts say if patients are healthier going into surgery, they will recover more quickly and they are less likely to develop complications.

Doctors at the clinic will also work with pharmacists and anesthesiologists to help patients manage pain while they prepare for surgery.

"One of the key features that we addressed is we looked at wait lists, and it was clear that some people shouldn't have been on the wait list and needed some other activity prior to entering the surgical queue," said Brian Postl, head of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.

"I think the huge success of the prehab is that it not only identifies that, it does something about it and gets people tuned up and toned up to both better tolerate the surgery and to have shorter rehabilitation."

The $600,000 for the project will pay for about $120,000 in capital costs and $485,000 for operations and staffing. The clinic, which is expected to open by fall, will be open three days per week.

The Pan Am clinic will provide services to five to 10 patients per day, most of them from orthopedic programs at the Grace, Victoria General and Seven Oaks hospitals.

Prehabilitation services are also available at the ACCESS River East Clinic in north Winnipeg and the Brandon Regional Health Centre.