Over the past 20 years in health care, Matthew Jubelius has witnessed the amount of people who don’t have a doctor or access to health services. And, he worked alongside many team members who experienced burnout from the demand of people who need valuable support.

According to the Canadian Medical Association, approximately 4.6 million Canadians do not have access to primary care (family clinic) or a doctor. These patients have no choice but to go to a walk-in clinic or an emergency room, leaving people waiting extended hours to receive support or who turned away from overcrowding

Being surrounded by this environment for far too long, Jubelius launched Virtunurse. The virtual clinic is a platform where people can quickly access care from a nurse practitioner, registered, or mental health counsellor from their home or workplace, meaning that people don’t have to wait for weeks or go to an emergency department for non-critical health care needs.  The system supports patients and helps them navigate effectively through the health system to receive the proper care. In addition to the online clinical services, Jubelius is currently working on solutions to increase care access across Canada, United States, and globally.

In 2024, he rebranded the company to VirtuClinic, adding more team members and services including Employee Health and Wellness and Workers’ Compensation Board of Alberta clinical services. People can go to the website, read the descriptions of each clinical team member, book an appointment, and meet virtually with the practitioner that the patient chooses in a fraction of the time compared to the current system. Because of how it’s all set-up, patients can choose their healthcare professional, build an amazing professional relationship and receive consistent care from the team.

“This is something our community needs, and surrounding areas definitely need. It all comes back to the importance of people having access to care when they need it. Imagine if you are having mental health struggles and there’s nobody to help, or the waiting time to get proper help is 10 months. That’s not fair to people and we’ve reduced waiting times to as fast as same-day appointments.” Nurses are intelligent, highly capable, and deeply care about helping people. There are many health-related concerns that a registered nurse can assess and perform that do not need a doctor,” says Jubelius.

VirtuClinic has grown to provide mental wellness support and and employee health and wellness services. VirtuClinic supports small and medium-sized companies that want to provide wellness support for their employees.

Convenience, trusted professional service and continuity of care are the primary goals forVirtuClinic. The company has grown to deliver wellness services across the health spectrum from preventative, active treatment, and post-injury support to meet physical and mental needs of people. VirtuClinic is a complete and total healthcare service provider.

“Although it’s virtual, it’s still face to face. VirtuClinic is about continuity and building relationships with patients and our communities. We see people who come to us as human beings, that need support. Being able to provide that is a privilege,” says Jubelius. “For me, this is ultimately about doing some good in the world.”

The business owner has been a registered nurse since 2007. Based on his passion for healthcare and helping others, he was provided the opportunity to start his clinical career in advanced practice nursing at the University of Alberta hospital in a specialized Cardiovascular ICU (Intensive Care Unit).

The team provided care for critically ill people, including heart and lung transplants. He then moved to a general systems ICU, then served as a nursing instructor, manager, director, and other clinical roles including mental health, community, and occupational health nursing. One of his career highlights is being nationally selected by the Department of National Defence to work with scientific and medical teams to assist with the safety and security of Canadians.

“I started VirtuClinic for several reasons based on the issues in our community such as the shortage of local doctors accepting new patients, people calling EMS hoping to get care, and waiting in the Emergency Department for hours with non-critical health needs, and witnessing the burnout of healthcare professionals. Hearing that our walk-in clinics were oversubscribed daily before 10 a.m., seeing repeated national news stories showing that the current healthcare system is broken, the nursing shortage, physician burnout, and understanding if there would ever be an end to this nightmare compelled me to do something about it,” says Jubelius.

APEX Alberta has helped Jubelius with confidence, professional guidance, program offerings, business incubators, and introducing him to others to expand VirtuClinic. When he works with the APEX team, he feels they believe in VirtuClinic and want to help it succeed.

“When I first brought the idea to Tracy Stroud, I’ll never forget her expression and enthusiasm, saying ‘you've really got something here’,” he says.

VirtuClinic maintains the highest regulatory and healthcare standards and has the same medical authority as a family physician clinic. VirtuClinic is a complete healthcare solution that provides care for individuals, employers through employee health and wellness services, direct mental health support, and WCB – Alberta clinical services.