Nation Health Center COVID-19 Announcement

Dear patients,

Our office is committed to providing care to our patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we also feel it is our responsibility to reduce non-urgent visits in the office, in order to stop the spread of the virus and protect the health of our patients and staff. We have already started taking the following steps.

We are postponing non-urgent medical appointments, including physicals/check-ups, driver’s medicals etc. Visits that are more urgent and require an in-person visit will still be available. However, we ask that you CALL FIRST before coming to the clinic. This also applies to our after hour clinics, Monday to Thursday evenings, and Saturday mornings. When you visit, the door will be closed and locked for our staff’s safety, who will greet you once you knock. Please check in at the front desk as you would normally do, but our receptionists do NOT need to swipe or handle your health card. Stay two meters (six feet) away from other people and avoid touching surfaces.

Telephone or virtual visits can be offered if you need to speak to your doctor but do not need to be seen. These visits will also be scheduled. Our staff and doctors will determine if your health concern requires a physical visit or not when you call. PLAN AHEAD if you will be running out of prescriptions soon, and call your pharmacy to send a refill request to our office.

We are screening all calls to determine your risk of exposure to COVID-19. Any patients with possible exposure or symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 will NOT be booked since we do NOT have protective equipment to ensure the safety of our staff, doctors and other patients. We are also NOT equipped to test for COVID-19 at our clinic.

You can complete the following self-assessment tool if you are experiencing symptoms. These can include coughing, runny nose, sore throat, fever and difficulty breathing.

https://covid-19.ontario.ca/self-assessment/#q0

The Eastern Ontario Health Unit has instructions on how or when to get testing on their website.

https://eohu.ca/en/my-health/if-you-have-symptoms-of-covid-19

We continue to monitor information and recommendations from local, provincial and federal public health units and will adjust our practices accordingly. We will start rebooking routine visits in the office once Public Health advises us it is safe to do so.

Thank you for your patience and understanding in these challenging times.

The Nation Health Centre Team

Additional resources about COVID-19:

Eastern Ontario Health Unit

Ministry of Health of Ontario

Public Health Agency of Canada