Travel Medicine

“Skylarking” is an old term for traveling, especially off the beaten path. Our clinic's focus is to give clients the best information to ensure safe travel. Many illnesses are preventable through vaccination and other precautions. Our clients include vacation and business travelers, sports teams, missionaries and expeditions. If you are unsure if you even need to see us phone us and one of our staff will give a rough outline of the guidelines for vaccines and malaria medication for each country based on our up to date resources.

We recognize the urgency of last minute departures and will do our best to see you as soon as possible. Travel visits are not covered by Manitoba Health. We are priced similarly to other clinics and are not subsidized by any government sources. Sports medicine visits are covered by Manitoba Health. We obtain our vaccines directly from the manufacturer and try to keep our prices reasonable.

Exotic vaccines like rabies and Japanese encephalitis, which are rarely needed, are not stocked but are available at nearby pharmacies.

Immunization Safety

All vaccines used in this clinic are safe and approved by Health Canada to prevent significant diseases. There is no credible evidence to support links to immunization with autism, diabetes or multiple sclerosis, despite numerous claims by non medical people. We will provide recent journal articles and websites, as well as statements from the MS society and Canadian Diabetes Association supporting the use of immunization as a safe and beneficial way to prevent disease on request. If you have any concerns before receiving any vaccination please let us know. Some live vaccines should not be given to individuals who are pregnant, allergic or immune compromised. All vaccines are for your health and you may decline at any time.

Common Vaccines Available

What do you need?

We recommend vaccines based on your type of trip, your existing health and prior vaccines. Some diseases are rare yet serious. Not every traveler needs the same vaccines are required and which ones are recommended.

Recommendations will also be made based on the actual cost of certain vaccines against the likelihood of catching something.

Malaria Advice

Malaria medications are recommended based on their effectiveness in areas where resistant forms have arisen, prior reactions to anti-malarials, and their cost. There is some choice in using different agents. All anti-malarials should be started before entering the country (to build up a blood level) and after the trip (to kill off any surviving parasites in the blood stream). No medication will protect against malaria. It only prevents life threatening malaria. It is always important to avoid all mosquitoes and bites and see someone knowledgeable in Tropical diseases after your trip.

Returning Travelers

We are available for returning travelers with suspicious fever (should always be considered malaria until proven otherwise even if medication was taken), persistent diarrhea or other travel related problems. If you have a post travel problem call us and we will do our best to see you (these visits are covered by Manitoba Health)

Other Concerns

Since travel medicine can include virtually any medical concern, information is always changing. Please check our website for information on the latest controversy. If we don't cover an issue one of our links will. We also will advise travelers with specific medical conditions-very young or old, pregnant, diabetes, HIV, and other diseases as to how to minimize problems abroad. We also provide for other groups with special needs-expeditions, overseas workers, and SCUBA divers.

VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT

www.skylarkmedicalclinic.com

to download more copies of this or our other brochures:

Travel Health

Traveler's diarrhea

Malaria

Altitude Illnesses

Cruise Health

Rave Safety

Influenza

Scuba Diving

Healthy Wedding Vacations and Honeymoons

And others

Sports Medicine

Shoulder Injuries

Hand and Wrist

Knee

Back Pain

Feet

And other topics

Other Goals

Throughout the year, our clinic will sponsor events for groups like Amnesty International, Save the Children and Unicef. We are always looking for participants to help us out in these events. We would also prefer that if you make any donations directly to a charity and not to us.

264 Tache Avenue

Winnipeg, MB R2H 1Z9

Ph: 453-9107 Fax: 453-9115