The C.W. Wiebe Medical Centre in Winkler is preparing to welcome seven new Family Medicine physicians over the next few months.t Executive Director Karen-Denise Cyr says the hope is that this will help meet the community’s growing health care needs.
Filling the need
“We now have over 40 physicians at our clinic who provide a wide range of care, and of course, people have become much more specialized,” said Cyr. “That has actually been something that really attracts physicians to coming here.”
Cyr explained that the opportunities available in a community setting have been a strong draw to new physicians looking to work in a more general sense.
“They have opportunities to practise in ways that they might not be able to in larger urban centres where the tendency is to want to hire specialists,” she said. “There's a role for specialists, 100% and our physicians will refer to specialists all the time. But it's nice to know that more services can be made available closer to home for people.”
She noted that growth at both the medical centre and the Boundary Trails Health Centre reflects the demand for expanded services. “You see the need. You find how it can be delivered and you make it happen.”
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Welcoming new physicians
Among those new arrivals are seven Family Medicine physicians expected to arrive in the coming months:
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Dr. Victor Afahaene (began practicing August 1st, 2025)
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Dr. Yibo Apaemi
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Dr. Chukwuma Edozie
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Dr. Ann Ettah
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Dr. Dipeeka Kumari
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Dr. Yakubu Benjamin
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Dr. Desmond Iroque
Cyr said many of the incoming doctors are internationally trained and are eager to make Winkler home.
“So our goal is to try and help them to feel a natural connection to the community here. We're welcoming them. We're showing them around, and our local Chamber of Commerce is supporting us by giving them tours and helping them to feel that there's more about them coming here than just being the doctor. That they are able to settle here with their families and purchase home and go to church and shop and do all the things that they would do as part of the life that they've had when they lived in the UK or Nigeria or, you know, India or wherever it is that they may have come from,” she said.
Cyr says that people who do not currently have a family doctor are encouraged to register with the provincial Family Doctor Finder program. As the new physicians join the medical centre, they are connected with patients through the registry.