Roseau River First Nations Ginew Wellness Centre now offers a new system called Telehealth that no one else in the area can offer.

Telehealth is available on reserves across Manitoba, providing quality patient supports and employee training without all the extra costs of travel and other expenses.

"You can do appointments through Telehealth to see a medical doctor about an issue, education is available from different sites across Canada and for us at Ginew we do a lot of education programs for our nurses and mental health staff," explained Health Nurse Cheri Downey.

Downey added the response to Telehealth has been extremely busy due to the wide range of different opportunities it can provide, noting you do not have to be a treaty band member or live on reserve to receive this service. Telehealth is available to anyone in the surrounding communities for anyone that finds it difficult to receive the medical attention they need in rural Manitoba.

"When we first started using the program we actually double booked a couple times because there are so many different opportunities for education for the different staff we have here at the Wellness Centre. It took us some time to figure out how to communicate and get a system in place."

Downey noted that there are a few off reserve individuals already using the service from Dominion City, Emerson, and even Altona.

"It reduces costs for patients, the stress of having to travel to the city or find a ride. Some people avoid getting treatment because they can't get a ride to Boundary or Winnipeg or they can't afford it. That is really too bad and unfair and that's where Telehealth comes in and can be used instead," said Downey.