Upon receipt of a referral, a genetics nurse counsellor will contact the individual/family and meet with her/him to obtain a family and medical history, and also get release of information forms signed to get relevant medical records.

When all the documentation is collected, the genetics nurse counsellor may arrange a videoconference for the individual/family with a geneticist or set up an appointment at one of the genetics clinics.  We also use videoconferencing for the genetics nurse counsellor appointments.  This helps us meet the needs of the regional clients that may find it difficult to travel into Thunder Bay for appointments as well as local clients who don't need to wait until a scheduled clinic to have an appointment with the geneticist.

After the consultation, the geneticist will correspond with the individual/family and with the referring physician.  Follow-up appointments may be necessary and testing may or may not be offered.

Because genetics is an ever expanding field, and new tests are being developed regularly, it is always good to check in with the genetics program every so often to see if anything new has changed.  You can contact us at (807) 625-5924 or 1-888-294-6630.