Is there a way to NOT use portals if I want to have multiple records for the same ID shown?

An example:

I've got a participant number. Each participant number is unique. Each participant can have more than one appointment, but they may just have one.

I'm trying to design a summary layout. I'm using the participant table to show most of the data but there are other tables from which I'd like to pull out data. As I said, each person can have more than one appointment but I can't figure out how to get the layout to show me more than one row if I don't use a portal. Is this the only way to get a repeating field?

Make a list layout using the appointment table. Put data from other tables in header or summary parts. Use sorting or go to related record show to view records by participant.