COVID-19 UPDATE

JULY 15, 2021
Courtenay Medical Clinic maintains keeping the health and safety of our patients, staff, and physicians our main priority.

We would like to extend a big THANK YOU to all of our patients that have respected our workplace Covid-19 policies over these past number of months. We appreciate your kindness and patience as we have made a number of changes.

We will continue to follow the guidance of the Provincial Health Officer, B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons, WorkSafe BC and the BCCDC as we consider further re-opening plans to the clinic.
 
All physicians will continue telephone visits to our patients to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19.
All prescriptions can be faxed to your pharmacy once your physician has discussed with you over a Telehealth phone visit.

Face-to-face visits are available with your physician but are limited at this time.
We recognize that there will be some medical issues that require face-to-face interaction in the clinic. 
Please call our receptionists for an appointment, and we will determine whether your needs can be managed by Telehealth or face-to-face.

Effective July 1, 2021 – Courtenay Medical Clinic will continue to require all patients, health care workers and non-clinical staff to wear medical grade masks while inside the Clinic.
Patients will be asked to wear a medical grade mask for their entire visit,
disinfect their hands upon arrival and maintain physical distancing of a minimum of 6 feet.

Phone volume has increased due to limiting traffic within the clinic and we appreciate your patience.

We will remain open Monday to Friday to serve you.

Please call to schedule your injection appointments with the nurse.

ALL VISITS AND SERVICES REQUIRE A BOOKED APPOINTMENT

During the pandemic our evening clinics will be closed.

Please consult our COVID-19 Safety Plan for more information.

Testing

Recommendations regarding swabs are changing weekly. Swabs have specific functions and it is important in the beginning to track the spread of the illness. As time goes and the infection spreads, only very ill patients may be swabbed as well as healthcare staff to make sure they are clear before they return to work.

Treatment

The majority of all people (60-80%) will get infected. Fortunately, the majority will have mild symptoms only and can safely recuperate at home without any medical attention. The main symptoms are fever, cough and shortness of breath. This is treated at home with self isolation, rest, fluids and acetaminophen (Tylenol) for fever.  There are no other effective medications or miracle cures. It may not be easy to tell the difference between a cold, flu or corona in the beginning. You should stay at home either way until you are well (if clearly a cold or flu) or for a full 14 days (corona infection or if you are not sure). If you are not sure, call us for a phone appointment. Those who take ACE-inhibitor blood pressure tablets do not have to stop it as it does not increase risk.

Protecting others

Pretend you have it and are trying to prevent spreading it to others.

The main focus at present is to limit the spread in our community, so the infection can spread as slow as possible. This will ensure healthcare staff can attend to those that are very ill as it unfolds. If the spread happens rapidly our resources may be overwhelmed (e.g. not enough hospital beds) and more people can die. If the hospital is overburdened we cannot take care of other things either – car accidents, injuries, other infections and even illnesses such as stroke and heart attack. It will impact all ages.

The risk of death is highest in older people. There is an estimated 15% risk of death in people over age 80. Ages 70-79 face an 8% risk of death.

Ages 60-69 have a 4% risk of death. In addition to that the following chronic illnesses add to that risk e.g. cardiovascular disease (10.5%), diabetes (7.3%), chronic lung disease 6.3%, hypertension 6% and cancer 5.6%. Young, previously healthy people have died in China and Italy. It is up to all of us to keep everybody safe by following precautions. It is called flattening the curve to slow the spread.

What can you do?

Stay at home. Practice social isolation. Only go to the shops to get necessities. Stay 2-3m away from other people. Don’t panic. Don’t hoard -we all need to share supplies. Don’t take supplies from medical offices – we need it to take care of all our other patients. We have very limited supplies and are running very low already and our suppliers are out of stock. Our doctors have to pay for it personally. There is no magic funding or government handout.

Wash your hands with soap. Often and for long enough to sing the ABC. Hand sanitizer is good too, but nothing beats soap.

Cough into your elbow. Don’t touch your face.

All patients who have a cough are expected to put on a mask before entering the waiting room. Apply hand sanitizer. Let us know when you book your appointment that you have a cough so we can check that you do not possibly have a corona virus infection – there are other steps to then take to care for you .

If you misrepresent your symptoms and see a physician without giving them the chance to protect themselves from infection and in the process endanger other patients in the waiting room and our staff, this can be considered a form of assault and we may dismiss you from our clinic.

At this time Courtney Medical Clinic is not taking  on new patients. We do not have a waitlist for new patients. We ask that you register online for CV Health Connect Registry.

https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-connect-registry/comox-valley

Please call our office to book your 2020 Flu vaccine appointment. Our first clinic is on 24 October 2020. 

Courtenay Medical Clinic Doctors Law, Swanson, Daws, Lamykina, and Macleod, along with our staff would like to welcome Dr. Nakhla.

After 26 years, Dr Law will transition his medical practice to Dr. Nakhla in Sept 2021 and will work as a locum at the Clinic. Dr. Law would like to thank his patients and the community.