New health practice first of its kind in Winnipeg

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This article was published 18/08/2021 (1830 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A new health practice aims to revitalize pharmaceutical practice in Manitoba.

Simplicity Wellness, Tim Smith and Josée-Anne Le Dorze’s new business, is a health coaching and chronic disease management practice run by licensed pharmacists. The couple has more than a decade of experience each in pharmacy.

“What makes our practice different from most pharmacists is that we are focused strictly on the consultation and coaching aspect,” Smith said.

Smith and Le Dorze — who live in St. Vital — are the first pharmacists in Manitoba to achieve this specific classification of practice license. There’s a trend in health care towards more lifestyle and coaching-based approaches, Smith said, so they pair a holistic approach with their professional skills and experiences.

People won’t go to Simplicity Wellness just to get their medications; they’ll go to learn how to use them and make lifestyle changes to achieve their health goals.

Smith and Le Dorze will deep-dive into a client’s concerns and then develop a plan based on values, preferences and what a patient hopes to get out of the process.

Clients can choose to have a one-off appointment, but the best results come from ongoing followup and troubleshooting.

Smith believes managing diet, the amount of physical activity one gets and how you respond to stress are all key components of optimal health.

“We work with people according to their values and beliefs to reach the goals they set for themselves,” he said.

One of the services Simplicity Wellness offers is a de-prescribing assessment and action plan. Le Dorze said it’s a supervised process where medications are decreased or stopped completely when an assessment shows it’s no longer needed or is causing harm.

“In the health system, right now, we’re really good at adding medications, but not as good at re-assessing whether or not they’re still needed,” she said.

The challenges in the health system don’t come from a lack of skill or passion from doctors, pharmacists, nurses and other providers, Smith said, but come down to the time that can be spent with patients.

“We knew we needed to create a different practice where we could spend the time with clients to really focus on helping them take action,” Smith said.

Simplicity Wellness has just launched, so Smith and Le Dorze are only starting to bring in clients. While the services are for anyone looking to take control of their health and wellness, it’s especially geared toward people who have or are at risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol and respiratory diseases like asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

“We do travel health consultations, too,” Le Dorze said. “We offer a service where we’ll review where a client is going and what vaccines they would need and all the things they can do to stay healthy while travelling.”

They can also take saliva samples to help determine how a client metabolizes certain medications. Results from DNA testing shows what medication is most likely to work.

“This is especially important in the field of mental health where people have to go through a lot of trial and error to find the medication that works for them,” Smith said.

Simplicity Wellness is located on Scott Street in Osborne Village in the Launch Coworking Space. Smith and Le Dorze offer consultations in-person and virtually.

You can find more information at www.simplicitywellness.ca