News & Updates

Manitoba Health, Seniors and Long-Term Care has expanded the measles vaccine outbreak eligibility to include children aged six months to under 12 months who have been evacuated from their home communities due to wildfires in Manitoba. Read more Province of Manitoba | News Releases | Measles Update #14

If you or someone you know is affected by wildfire the following health services are available to anyone who needs it.

Read the Shared Health news release here: Manitoba’s Health System Prepared for potential Canada Post Service Disruption – Shared Health

More region specific information can be found here: Canada Post Strike – Interlake-Eastern RHA

Manitoba Public Health continues to monitor for measles cases and exposures that occur from cases in Manitoba, and exposures from out of province travellers to Manitoba. 

View the exposure locations in Manitoba.

See current cases

Now includes infants six months to 12 months of age

As the number of measles cases in Manitoba continues to increase, the province has broadened eligibility for the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to include infants from six months to under 12 months of age residing in Southern Health-Santé Sud (SH-SS) and Interlake Eastern Regional Health Authority (IERHA). 

This vaccine is also now available to children aged six months to under 12 months of age who travel regularly to and have close contact with residents of the SH-SS or IERHA health regions. Read more.

See current cases and exposures

Youth in the Interlake-Eastern region are invited to reflect on reconciliation through an artwork contest.

Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority is launching an artwork contest for students in grades 5 to 12 in advance of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which takes place on Sept. 30.

This day honours children who never returned home and survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities. Public commemoration of the painful history and ongoing impacts of residential schools is a vital component of the reconciliation process.

To acknowledge National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority is seeking artwork submissions designed by youth. All designs must be original and fit on a landscape-oriented paper (8.5 inches wide by 11 inches high).

Winning entries will be digitally redrawn for printing. All submissions become property of IERHA. The contest is open to youth residents in the regions as well as family members of IERHA employees.

The artwork will be made available to IERHA staff during the month of September to use as backgrounds for virtual meetings and computer screens.

To enter, visit https://www.ierha.ca/forms/artwork-contest/. For those without access to a computer to submit the entry, they can call 1-855-347-8500 for other options.

Selected entries will receive $100.

The submission deadline is June 16.

The number of measles cases is rising locally, nationally and internationally. The majority of cases are unvaccinated or under-vaccinated children who have been exposed in their communities. If you know your/your child’s immunization status and if you’d like to secure a measles vaccination, or if you want to confirm your immunization status contact your health care provider or your public health nurse in your local community health office.

The Province of Manitoba’s Measles Update #6 includes measles exposure sites located in Interlake-Eastern Health. Read more.

Shared Health is further enhancing care for patients in rural Manitoba with the expansion of the Community Paramedic Program to Brandon and Selkirk, helping ensure more Manitobans can be connected to the care and community services they need. Read more

Congratulations are in order for a long-standing physician who earned an award to recognize her exemplary service and expertise in the community.

Dr. Michele Matter is being recognized by Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority with a Physician Emeritus Award. Physician colleagues and community members had the chance to submit nominations for the prestigious award. Matter received a range of nominations, including from several paramedics, the team at the Selkirk Rapid Access to Addictions Medicine clinic, Ekosi Health Centre and leadership in Gimli.

“It is an incredible honour to be nominated for the Physician Emeritus Award and an absolute thrill to be chosen as this year’s recipient,” Dr. Matter said.

“It’s an unexpected yet very satisfying acknowledgment of the many years of hard work I put into my practice as well as the leadership and teaching I did.”

With more than 35 years of experience as a physician, Dr. Matter graduated from the University of Cape Town in December 1989. She worked for four years in Cape Town before leaving South Africa.

From there, her first stop was Scotland to pursue post-graduate education in pediatrics. That’s where she met a South African doctor who had been working in the Manitoba community of Leaf Rapids. That doctor told her about a job opportunity in Lynn Lake, where Dr. Matter ended up working for six years. It’s also where she met her partner, an RCMP officer who ended up being transferred to Gimli.

Thanks to a chance comment from Dr. Colin Nisbet, a previous chief of Selkirk ER who was teaching a course in Lynn Lake, Dr. Matter applied for a position in Selkirk’s emergency department. She got the job and worked there for the next 25 years before retiring in December 2023.

Since then, Dr. Matter has continued to work part time as a family doctor in Gimli and an addictions medicine provider at the RAAM clinic in Selkirk.

Some of her career highlights include being chosen as chief of staff or site lead at three hospitals in two regions of Manitoba —Lynn Lake, Gimli and Selkirk. She also had 10 years of experience teaching and providing on-call support for paramedics as their medical director.

In addition, Dr. Matter had the chance to work in Canada’s North, flying in to communities such as Brochet, Lac Brochet, Tadoule Lake and Pukatawagan to provide care.

“It was an incredible honour to have travelled where so few have, been able to see and appreciate the remote wilderness of the North and work with the amazing peoples who live there,” she said.

At the same time, her career helped create connections within the community while providing longitudinal care. She enjoyed the “absolute thrill and excitement” of the ER, as well as the satisfaction of getting to really know her patients in family medicine.

“Medicine has also given me the opportunity to volunteer my skills at many high-level sporting events, including the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, World Women’s Hockey Championships and the Pan Am Games, amongst others. Imagine going to work on a ski-lift,” she said.

“My newest love is the incredible joy of helping people overcome addictions and maintain sobriety, one of the most difficult things I think humans have to go through. These are not weak people; they are amongst the strongest I know. It is such an honour to be able to offer them the slightest support.”

When reflecting on her career, Dr. Matter shared some words of gratitude.

She described Dr. Colin Nisbet, previous chief of ER in Selkirk, as “the most amazing medical mentor a person could wish for.” 

She also pointed to the positive impact of FeminEM, an informal WhatsApp group of the female physicians who worked together in the Selkirk ER through COVID and continue to provide each other with support and advice.

In addition, Dr. Matter is grateful for Dr. Shelley Turner, who taught her to dream big and encouraged her to always approach life with curiosity and kindness.

“To my patients who made all this possible, a huge debt of gratitude and love for the wonderful opportunities,” she said.

“To my teachers and mentors who made me the physician I am today, I couldn’t have done it without them. So when my turn came to take over those roles, it was done with humility and gratitude for those who led me.”

Dr. Scott Gregoire, Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority’s regional lead of medical services and chief medical officer, shared gratitude for Dr. Matter’s contributions.

“Dr. Matter has served the community and has be the model for professionalism, competence and mentorship,” he said.

“On a personal note, she has been an absolute pleasure to work with and her care to patients is exemplary. To work with her has been a privilege.”

Read about past winners.

A spring COVID-19 vaccination program is running from May 1 to June 30.  An additional dose will be available to individuals who received a dose of COVID-19 vaccine since fall 2024 and meet one of the following criteria:

• Adults 65 years of age and older
• Indigenous people 45 years of age and older
• Adult residents of long-term care homes and congregate living settings for seniors
• Individuals 6 months of age and older who are moderately to severely immunocompromised

For more information, please contact your local community health office