Associate Medical Clinic
203, 10030 106 Street T7P 2K4 Westlock, AB, Canada

**CLINIC CLOSURE** To our valued patients: Due to a COVID exposure in our clinic, we have chosen to close the clinic for this week, beginning on Monday November 30. All existing appointments will be converted to phone appointments, and any in-person appointments will be rescheduled to the coming weeks. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. ... If you are in urgent need of a prescription refill and don’t have an appointment booked with your doctor, please speak with your pharmacist about getting an extension on your prescription until you can speak to your doctor. The safety of our patients and staff is of the utmost importance. We greatly appreciate your patience as we navigate through this.

Effective tomorrow, October 28, there is a mandatory face covering bylaw for the town of Westlock.

**EVENING CLINICS** We will now be open again for evening clinics on Tuesdays, starting September 15, for Drs. Keay, DaCunha, Frigon, and Paish. As always, appointments must be booked and we cannot accommodate walk-ins. **MASKING**... We are still asking that all patients and those accompanying patients wear a mask while in the clinic.

As public health restrictions begin to lift, we want to assure our patients that your safety is a priority. It is for this reason that we recommend the following: 1) MASKS All persons must wear a mask when entering the clinic; this includes patients and accompanying family/friends. If you do not have your own mask, please visit a McDonald's, Tim Hortons, or A&W Drive-Thru to obtain masks. You can also go to the link below to find out more about where to get masks. ... https://www.alberta.ca/masks.aspx We are also recommending that a mask be worn whenever out in public. This is especially important when it is difficult to maintain physical distancing of 2 meters at all times. 2) OTHER PREVENTION MEASURES We will continue to screen all patients prior to their arrival regarding symptoms and risk factors for COVID-19. Please do not come to the clinic if you are feeling unwell, and stay home when sick. We have hand-sanitizer available for all persons to clean their hands on arrival. We continue to ask that people maintain physical distancing of 2 meters whenever possible in the clinic. We will also continue to offer phone and video appointments, for those who have symptoms or would prefer not to come into the clinic. ******************************************************** We thank you for helping keep our clinic and community safe!

We greatly appreciate the support we have received from our patients, community, and fellow physicians with respect to the practice changes we announced earlier this week. We want to emphasize that the doctors are still providing care in the clinic - this will not change. We will continue to care for you during and after the pandemic. We have made the difficult decision that we will no longer be providing care in the local AHS facility as of August 1. ... Government and Alberta Health Services have said that they will find a way to maintain services after this date. Our commitment to you as patients of our clinic is unchanged. The announcement to withdraw our AHS facility services was made so we can continue to support rural patients and to secure and stabilize your healthcare. We will continue to look after you in the clinic setting, as we always have. Please feel free to contact our office if you have any questions. If you have concerns about local healthcare services, please contact our local MLA Mr. Glenn van Dijken. 1 (780) 674-3225 [email protected]

A letter to our patients and community:

*Announcements* We are excited to welcome back both Dr. Natalie Do Rego starting May 5, and Dr. Ben Lewis starting April 16. We are now booking only virtual appointments on Wednesdays and will be closed to in-person visits. ... We continue to offer same-day telephone or virtual appointments. If you need a prescription refill, please call our office for a refill instead of requesting one from your pharmacist. Your doctors continue to be here for you and are happy to do this over the phone. As always, please call our office at (780) 349-3341 to book an appointment.

Need a prescription refill? Your doctors are still here for you and we are offering same-day phone or virtual appointments for refills. Call the clinic and we can set you up. 780-349-3341

A helpful video to explain what is meant by social distancing and self-isolating.

Please read for important information regarding our clinics response to COVID-19: *We will work to keep this post up to date as new information regarding the COVID-19 pandemic emerges. Please also see www.alberta.ca/COVID for reliable and current information* 1) VIRUS INFORMATION, PREVENTION, and SCREENING ... Please visit www.alberta.ca/COVID for information on the virus, how to prevent spread, how to self-isolate, and cases in Alberta. There is an online tool for Albertans to help you figure out if you need to be tested for COVID-19. If you start to feel unwell, this should be your first step. If you screen positive, you need to immediately isolate yourself (and any family members you have been in contact with) and call HealthLink (8-1-1) for further instructions; this is how you will access testing for COVID-19. Please note, we are NOT testing for COVID-19 in our clinic. https://myhealth.alberta.ca//Pa/COVID-Self-Assessment.aspx If you are seriously ill (severe difficulty breathing, severe chest pain, having a hard time waking up, feeling confused), please call 9-1-1 and inform them if you have cough/fever/flu-like symptoms, or if you have travelled recently. This helps the hospital to prepare for your arrival. 2) APPOINTMENT BOOKING In order to reduce transmission of the virus and keep our patients/staff safe, we ask that all appointment bookings be made by phone. We are offering and encourage phone/virtual appointments with your physician, including for prescription refills. If you have a scheduled appointment in the next 4 weeks for a non-urgent issue, please consider either canceling or changing to a virtual appointment. If you need to be seen in person, you will be screened by our staff over the phone for any COVID symptoms prior to your appointment. 3) PRESCRIPTION REFILLS Please take the time to ensure you have a 4-week supply of any regular medications. If you are in need of a prescription refill, please phone your pharmacy and request a refill. If a refill is needed, we ask that you call the clinic and request a phone appointment with your doctor. They are happy to call you, address any concerns you may have regarding your prescriptions, and fax a prescription to the pharmacy. 4) OFFICE VISITS For in-person appointments, you will receive a screening phone call from our front desk staff prior to your appointment and be advised on whether to come to the clinic or call 8-1-1. On arrival, you will be greeted downstairs by a nurse who will again screen you for symptoms. High risk patients will be redirected appropriately (ER if clinically sick enough or back to their vehicles to call 8-1-1 and get advice regarding swabs for COVID-19, self-isolation, etc.). Low risk patients with coughs, colds, etc. can be seen in a protected area away from other patients, attended by their physician wearing PPE. Thank you for your understanding during this difficult time. You are helping to keep our community safe.

Welcome to our official Facebook Page. In the days to come, this is where you can come to find real-time updates on how things are working in our clinic. Follow our page and feel free to share our posts so that this information can reach more of our patients.