Dear Upstream Clinic Patients:
Thank you to all of you for being patient and understanding during these difficult times. Please be reassured that your health remains our top priority.
As most of you may have already noticed we have switched to using primarily “Telehealth” Phone and video appointments. This is to reduce risk of COVID-19 transmission at our clinic. As the public moves to more of a “recovery phase” we also will start to open up our clinic to more “in-office” visits over the next month.
Please be assured that if we ask you come in for an “in-office” visit that we are doing everything we can to keep you safe. We will be taking many steps to decrease your risk. This includes:
- An increase in cleaning between patients
- Physicians and MOA’s wearing protective PPE
- You will be asked to wear a mask and wash your hands as soon as you enter the clinic
- We will try to stagger appointments to limit the number of people in our office
- You will be asked to wait in the car when you arrive for you appointment rather than in our waiting room
See the Booking Appointments page for special new appointment policies during COVID-19.
PLEASE note that our clinic continues to not see patients with cold or flu like symptoms. DO NOT come to the clinic with ANY respiratory symptoms at all. This means any fever, cough, runny nose, sinus congestion, difficulty breathing or new onset of vomiting or diarrhea.
The Sunshine Coast continues to run a Respiratory Assessment Clinic that is open 7 days a week between 8:30am -4:30pm. This is by appointment only and will initially be an assessment over the phone by a physician. If your symptoms require further assessment they will book you for an in-person appointment.
Please all 604-740-1252 to book an appointment. If you can not get through then you can text this number or email them at coastrespclinic@gmail.com and someone will get back to you as soon as possible. This clinic will also be doing all COVID -19 testing.
Please note that during the day either your family physician (by phone) or the Respiratory Clinic should be your first choice for all respiratory concerns. After hours or on weekends you can call the BC COVID-19 hotline at 1-888-COVID19 or use the online self-assessment tool at COVID THRIVE HEALTH to decide if you need to be tested for COVID-19. Please note that we are testing everyone WITH SYMPTOMS for COVID-19 at this time. We are not testing anyone without symptoms.
If you feel you need urgent attention obviously go to ER or call 911. If you are heading to our Emergency Department please call ahead to let them know you are coming in or call an ambulance as needed.
All of our physicians will continue to be primarily available by Telehealth with a similar schedule to previous. This schedule will be changed weekly though due to the increasing hospital demands of our physicians and may change with very little warning.
Appointment times continue to be given as SAME DAY BOOKINGS. Please call at 9am to book a Telehealth appointment with your physicians.
This is how phone appointments will take place:
- Your MD will call you at the time of your appointment
- You do not need to do anything other than make sure you have your phone by your side and your ringer is turned on
- Please ensure your phone settings accept calls from “unidentified callers” as the call may come from a “blocked caller ID”
- If your MD feels you need to be assessed in person we will make arrangements to do so
- Going forward we may switch to using video platforms for these appointments – more news to come on this in the future
This is what an “in-office” visit will look like:
- When you arrive at the clinic for your appointment, please call the front desk from your cell phone while still in your car, you will then be notified when we are ready for you
- If you do not have a cell phone or a car then please advise our staff of this when you book your appointment and you will be asked to wait in designated seats in our waiting room
- You will be asked to clean your hands & wear a mask when you enter the clinic
- You will then be escorted to the examination room to be seen as usual
- After your appointment you will be asked to wait in the examination room until someone escorts you out of the office
- You will be asked to discard your mask and wash your hands upon leaving the clinic
- Please bring as little personal belongings with you as possible to your appointment
- Please do not bring any other people with you to your appointment (unless absolutely necessary for assistance)
For MATERNITY patients: Dr Scott will continue to see you by either Telehealth or in-person visits on Tuesdays. As you can see traffic in our clinic is much reduced and Dr. Scott will be working out of two specific rooms & one bathroom only to keep risk of transmission low. Please let us know of any concerns. Please note that if you are experiencing new respiratory or gastrointestinal symptoms you should likely be tested for COVID-19. Please call Dr. Scott or our Respiratory Assessment Clinic for advice.
We encourage all of you to follow provincial guidelines on physical distancing. This is crucially important to reducing spread of COVID-19 within our community and decreasing the burden on our Healthcare system.
Please note that Sechelt Hospital and all long term care facilities have now limited all visitors to ESSENTIAL visits ONLY. This includes compassionate care (end of life, critical illness), visits paramount to patient/resident well being (assistance with feeding, mobility) or existing registered volunteers. This is for patient/resident safety and is being enforced by VCH.
Please note that we advise the use of Tylenol (Acetaminophen) rather than NSAIDs (Ibuprofen, Advil, Aleve) for all flu like symptoms.
The physicians on the Coast have formed a Sunshine Coast COVID Physician Task force. They can be followed on Facebook and are posting weekly updates online on the Coast Reporter. Please check these updates for new information.
Here are multiple other resources on COVID- 19:
Information about COVID-19 from BC Centre for Disease Control
How To Self-Isolate After Travel (PDF)
What To Do If You Are Sick
If you have COVID-19, or think you might have it, help prevent spreading by following these instructions.
How To Self-Isolate If You Are Sick (PDF)
How to isolate for those who have COVID-19 or respiratory symptoms.
Thank you from the physicians at Upstream Medical Clinic. We will try to post updated notices as things continue to evolve. – Suzanne Walter, Simon Reznick, Ron Mundy, Brenda Li Pak Tong, Adetunji Oremakinde, Karen Scott