Dear Patient(s):
Thank you for your understanding during this difficult time. We are trying to implement new ways of caring for you that avoid risking spread of disease to you or to us. Thank you to all of you who have agreed to help us learn to provide care by telephone and video.
As you know, we are a practice of 5 doctors, and our daily schedule relies on all of us being able to provide care. Two of our doctors have recently been in isolation to rule out illness, and one remains in quarantine. Like many doctors in the province, we are also working to get more personal protective equipment (masks, goggles, gowns) that will allow us to work safely. You can imagine that these are hard to come by at the moment.
So, for the next two weeks, the majority of care will be provided via phone and video consult. Depending on your medical needs, essential visits – like prenatal care, well baby care, and management of chronic diseases – should start again at that time. We have been advised by our physician associations and governing bodies that routine physicals and cancer screening visits should be delayed for 3 months. All annual physical appointments will thus be cancelled automatically and you may not get an alert for this. If you have a more immediate concern, please message the reception on Avocare (preferred method) or call our office to book a telephone appointment with your doctor.
Our team will be readily available to serve you remotely, 7 days a week. At this time, Avocare will be monitored from 9am-7pm Monday to Friday, as well as Saturdays and Sundays. If you previously had an in-person appointment booked, you will be contacted to ask if you’d like for it to be done over phone or to change the date/time. Your family doctor may also need that you connect via videoconference (instructions are found under our ‘Links’ on www.hsmedical.ca ) if they need to physically see you. Please also check our “News” section for updates on clinic availability.
We recognize that this could be a challenge for many of you. If you are frustrated or upset with this change, you are welcome to let us know in a constructive manner, however we would like to ask everyone to refrain from rude or abusive behaviour towards our team members.
Thank you for your understanding during this difficult time.
Sincerely,
The Team at HS Medical