Gambler finally finds its doctor, by way of Brazil

A small Manitoba First Nation that has tried for years to recruit a doctor for the community has finally found one by way of Brazil.

Gambler First Nation, just south of Russell, has fewer than 100 residents, many of whom have endured long wait times for primary care in surrounding communities and at the nearby Russell and District Hospital.

The community’s high rate of diabetes led Chief David LeDoux to seek out a doctor — the search took him to Cuba — with experience treating diabetic patients who was willing to relocate to central Manitoba.

Eventually, they reached out to the province’s immigration services, and found Igor Schinkarew, who had worked as a doctor in Brazil but had moved to Manitoba and was in the process of completing the necessary credential upgrades to practise in Canada.

“He was a family doctor as well as an emergency physician, and we were curious why he wasn’t working — the steps to becoming a doctor in Manitoba are pretty difficult,” said Kellie LeDoux, a councillor on the First Nation.

“Chief had called (Labour and Immigration) Minister Malaya (Marcelino) to see if she could help us in getting (him) through so we could utilize him as a physician here, and the minister got right on it … so in about two weeks from now, he’s going to be working with us full time.”

When the clinic opens in March, Schinkarew will be working on the reserve as a clinical assistant as part of his physician training. He moved to nearby Russell-Binscarth two weeks ago and will commute daily.

Having a doctor working full time in a First Nation, particularly one as small as Gambler, is out of the ordinary, Kellie LeDoux said.

One of the difficult things while we were trying to work through this is funding,” she said. “The government doesn’t fund doctors on First Nations. That’s a step that we had to get over; we secured our own and that’s how we’re working through it.”

Schinkarew practised family medicine in Brazil for seven years, focusing on rural and remote communities, before moving to Canada in 2019.

He and his wife wanted to continue working and living in a rural setting, and found himself connected with Gambler First Nation’s chief and council through the West Central Immigration initiative, a three-year pilot launched in late 2024 connecting rural municipalities with skilled workers.

“It’s an honour to be the first doctor heading this project,” he told the Free Press Tuesday. “I’m feeling really glad to be in it.”

He will be supervised by a doctor working with Prairie Mountain Health, who will advise him weekly.

The community’s concerns about diabetes are front of mind, and he plans to offer supportive dietary plans and lifestyle advice, he said.

“First, I want to listen what they have to say, to learn about their habits, what kind of exercise they do, what are their lifestyles about,” he said.

The First Nation’s leadership is pushing health-conscious initiatives, including a recently acquired geodome, which they hope to have operating as a greenhouse by the spring to improve residents’ access to fruits and vegetables.

A cultural centre being built in the community has a planned butcher shop that could ensure fresh meat is more readily available, Kellie LeDoux said.

“In our First Nation, we don’t have a lot of traditions; we lost a lot of that with residential school,” she said.

“But one of the things in our First Nation is we do have group of hunters, so we know wild meat is good. We decided, while putting up the geodome, that we would like to have a butcher shop that everybody could utilize, and that way we have good meat.”

In Russell-Binscarth, Mayor Judy Snitynsky said that while that community’s doctors have been able to keep up with the current patient load, some in neighbouring communities are feeling overloaded.

“Surrounding towns, like Shoal Lake, for instance, has no doctor anymore, Roblin is even having a tough time keeping their ER open and keeping enough doctors… and it’s just harder in rural areas,” she said.

She said that people from Gambler First Nation seeking care in Russell-Binscarth often had to take shuttles, as many in the community don’t drive.

“It’s really good for them to have an on-reserve doctor that can specialize in their health care issues,” she said.

While the clinic will remain focused on First Nation patients for now, Schinkarew said he hopes, over time, to help patients from outside the community.

Schinkarew will be working as a clinical assistant for the first year and then will complete a one-year residency in Winnipeg. He has no plans to leave Gambler First Nation, however, and plans to return to work as a fully-licensed doctor.

“I am with them for the long run,” he said.

» Winnipeg Free Press