The Manitoba Bleeding Disorders Program became a provincially funded program in 2005. The program provides comprehensive care services for children and adults with bleeding disorders in Manitoba, Eastern Saskatchewan and Northwestern Ontario.
The Objectives of the Manitoba Bleeding Disorders Program are:
- To ensure appropriate use of expensive coagulation factors (derivatives).
- To provide ongoing support and education working in partnership with patients, their families and other health care providers
- To ensure that the gold standard of care is provided.
The Program provides comprehensive care to children and adults with a variety of bleeding disorders, including deficiencies of factor I, VII, VIII, IX, XI, and XIII, and severe forms of von Willebrand disease. Bleeding disorders are rare conditions; for example, Hemophilia occurs in about 1 in 10,000 people. The most common type of hemophilia is called hemophilia A. This means the person does not have enough clotting factor VIII (factor eight). Hemophilia B is less common. A person with hemophilia B does not have enough factor IX (factor nine). The result is the same for people with hemophilia A and B; that is, they bleed for a longer time than normal.
Comprehensive Care is provided by a core team including clinic directors, nurses, a physiotherapist and a social worker. Other vital team members include: CBS, ward and ER nurses and physicians, Diagnostic Services Manitoba- Transfusion Medicine, Blood Bank staff, Hemostasis lab technologists, Hepatology, Infectious Diseases, Orthopedics and Dentistry.
Most patients with moderate to severe bleeding disorders are on home treatment. This requires patient education, supervision, monitoring of home-treatment records, and tracking of product. Home treatment is the gold standard of care for Hemophilia.
Joint and muscle bleeds are a common feature of hemophilia. Physiotherapists work to prevent and treat these complications in consultation with the team by
- Patient education
- Directly supervised physiotherapy treatments
- Prescribed home exercises with telephone supervision
- Follow up
- Discussion re: Lifestyle choices
Social Work provides support for individuals with bleeding disorders and their families by providing:
- Crisis intervention
- Ongoing assessment
- Resource management
- Advocacy
Clinic Directors
- Adult Program:
- Dr. Donald Houston
- Dr. Emily Rimmer
- Pediatric Program:
- Dr. Jayson Stoffman
- Dr. Sara Israels
- Nurse Clinician: Crystalynne San Juan, Khristine Cheng
Bleeding Disorders Program
Health Sciences Centre
FE 331 685 William Avenue