Elmdale FHO
104 - 25 Elm St. N5R 1H5 Saint Thomas, ON, Canada

Easter Weekend Holiday Office Hours Good Friday, April 2nd: Closed After Hour Clinic Open Saturday, April 3rd: 9:00 AM to 11:45 AM Easter Monday, April 5th: Closed

Today is International Transgender Day of Visibility. According to the Centre for Suicide Prevention, transgender people face unique stressors, including the s...tress some trans people experience when their gender identity is not affirmed. They are educating Canadians on the factors that put transgender individuals at risk of suicide, what we can all do to help reduce this risk and how trans people can stay mentally health. Take time to learn more today: https://bit.ly/2PM2TrC #TDOV #BellLetsTalk See more

Southwestern Public Health region will stay in the current Orange-Restrict Zone of Ontario's Safe and Open Framework. Learn more about our current restrictions here: https://bit.ly/2OtwRk7

COVID VACCINE ELIGIBILITY UPDATE Expanded access to those 70+ (Born in 1951, Turning 70 in 2021)

IMPORTANT UPDATE: The Ontario Government is placing London and Middlesex County into the Red-Control level effective tomorrow, March 30, 2021. See the requireme...nts under Red-Control: https://bit.ly/39qraL1 We’re seeing a dramatic increase of COVID-19 cases (like we did in Nov-Dec). We need to do everything we can to #StopTheSpread - and it starts with you! DO NOT have indoor gatherings KEEP YOUR DISTANCE from anyone who isn’t part of your household #LdnOnt #Middlesex

Are you pregnant and wondering if it is recommended and safe to get the COVID-19 vaccine? The SOGC recently released this statement. https://www.sogc.org//SOGC_Statement_COVID-19_Vaccination_... Please take a moment to read to have the most up-to-date information. See more

Today is #BellLetsTalk Day. Our staff and Doctors at Elmdale FHO wanted to remind you that we care about you and are here for you during these difficult and unprecedented times. Reach out if you need to schedule a phone appointment by calling our office or by our e-mail at [email protected] ... Watch & Share the video below - Every time this video is viewed Bell will donate 5 towards Canadian Mental Health. #MentalHealth #MentalHealthAwareness #WeCare #HereForYou #CanadianMentalHealth https://fb.watch/3iwZ3qYEV5/

Thank-you 94.1 myFM and Streamliners Espresso Bar for picking our amazing hard-working receptionist, Shelby, for winning the Coffee Break delivery this morning! Elmdale FHO staff have been extremely busy during this pandemic with an increase volume of calls with patient concerns - coffee and freshly baked treats were just what we needed to continue managing through these crazy times! Stay safe and thank-you for choosing our office!

With the new stay at home order starting we thought we would update you on a few things at our office: 1. With the Covid-19 pandemic still presenting many challenges for the health care system, I’d like to remind everyone that we are doing mostly phone/virtual appointments and keeping in person visits to a minimum. Please do not visit the office without an appointment as we are aiming to keep people in the office to a minimum. Please call 226-210-3773 for any non-urgent ...issues. 2. Phones are answered Monday Thursday from 9am -12pm and 1pm 4:30pm. Phones will only be answered from 9am-12pm on Fridays. 3. The clinic is presently running at full capacity (with phone appointments) and ask that you please make an appointment to get prescription refills. We will no longer process prescription refills by fax. To get a prescription faxed to your pharmacy, please book an appointment with your doctor to review your medication. This is an opportunity to touch base and follow-up on any concerns you may have. If you would like a prescription refilled by fax, without an appointment, there will be a $20 fee associated with this as it is not an OHIP covered service. 4. If we send in a prescription ahead of your appointment, please do NOT cancel your appointment.

With the holiday season upon us, we wanted to reach out with a few updates: 1. With the Covid-19 pandemic still presenting many challenges for the health care system, I’d like to remind everyone that we are still doing a combination of phone/virtual appointments and in person visits. Please do not visit the office without an appointment as we are aiming to keep people in the office to a minimum. ... 2. Our clinic is presently running at full capacity and we will return back to our original prescription policy. We will no longer process prescription refills by fax. This policy will take effect on January 1, 2021. If you are running low on your medication, please call the office to make an appointment for a renewal. This is an opportunity to touch base and follow-up on any concerns you may have. If you would like a prescription refilled by fax, without an appointment, there will be a $20 fee associated with this as it is not an OHIP covered service. 3. Over the holidays we will run clinics on a walk-in basis only. We ask that you please come to our office to register and then you may be asked to wait in your vehicle to ensure appropriate social distancing. Our holiday hours are as follows: December 24 - December 28th - Office Closed December 29 - 9 am to 7:45 pm December 30 - 9 am to 7:45 pm December 31 - Closed January 1 - Closed January 2 - 9 am to 11:45 am January 4 - Regular hours Thanks for your continued patience and support in what has been a very challenging year. I hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday season and I wish you all good health and wellness in 2021. All the best, Elmdale FHO

Information from the Public Health Agency of Canada regarding proper cloth masks for Covid-19 protection: Proper material, structure and fit Well-designed and well-fitting masks or face coverings can prevent the spread of your infectious respiratory droplets. They may also help protect you from the infectious respiratory droplets of others.... How well a mask or face covering works depends on the materials used, how the mask is made, and most importantly, how well it fits. A mask or face covering can be homemade or purchased, and should: -be made of at least 3 layers - 2 layers should be tightly woven material fabric, such as cotton or linen the third (middle) layer should be a filter-type fabric, such as non-woven polypropylene fabric -be large enough to completely and comfortably cover the nose, mouth and chin without gaping allow for easy breathing - fit securely to the head with ties or ear loops - be comfortable and not require frequent adjustments - be changed as soon as possible if damp or dirty maintain its shape after washing and drying Filters Filters add an extra layer of protection against COVID-19 by trapping small infectious particles. Consider wearing a mask that includes a filter or filter material as one of its layers, such as: - non-woven polypropylene fabric, which can be found as: a craft fabric - the non-woven fabric that's used to make some reusable shopping bags - a disposable filter inserted into a pocket on the mask Check out how to make your own face covering with a filter. Reusable masks with a non-woven filter layer should be washed daily, and can be washed multiple times. Disposable filters should be changed daily or as directed by the manufacturer. https://www.canada.ca//about-non-medical-masks-face-coveri

Flu Shots and Back to Daycare/School notes Many of you have contacted the clinic recently inquiring about the availability of the seasonal flu shot. At this time, we have yet to receive our allotment of the vaccine from Public Health. We will send an e-mail and do a facebook post when it is available including instructions for booking an appointment to receive it. As a result of new policies this year, all flu shots will require a prearranged appointment to ensure appropriate... distancing can be maintained at the clinic. Thank you for your patience. Secondly, we have also received many inquiries lately from parents regarding notes for schools and daycares indicating whether a patient has COVID-19. Unfortunately, we cannot provide a note indicating whether a child's symptoms are related to COVID-19. If your child is sent home from school or daycare, your options are: 1. Visit the closest COVID-19 Assessment Centre. For many of you this will be at St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital COVID-19 Assessment Centre. 519-631-2030 Ext 6210 or email [email protected] (emailing for an appointment seems to be faster than calling and waiting for a call back). If the test is negative AND the child is symptom free for 24 hours, they may return to school or daycare. OR 2. The child may self-isolate for 14 days before returning to school or daycare. They must be symptom free to return. If you would like your child assessed, please call and book an appointment with your regular physician or visit our after hours clinic. Please note we are unable to do COVID-19 swabs from our clinic, these are only done at the assessment centre. Thank you for your continued cooperation and understanding as we navigate these challenging times. Wishing you good health, Elmdale FHO

NEW COVID-19 Screening Tool for Children in School and Child Care https://covid-19.ontario.ca//Screening%20Children%20v1.0%2 Please review the updated guidelines before contacting our office to help guide whether your child requires a covid test/can return to school/needs further assessment.

Phone Access Hello everyone. We are aware that it has been more challenging to reach us by phone in recent days and are working to try to remedy this. Unfortunately, we are limited by our manpower and are short staffed due to the pandemic with many staff members forced to stay home due to lack of child care. If your physician utilizes the Health Myself portal, please use that to communicate messages if you have trouble getting through, however you can not use it at this time ...to book appointments. You can also ask your pharmacy to request medication refills from your physician. Thank you for your patience and understanding. (FYI if you have an email on file with our office you would have already received an invitation to join Health Myself in the past. If you wish you join please provide our staff with your email address and we can then send you an invitation at your request.)

Please read this joint statement from the physicians in your community. We are asking for all of your cooperation to help us in this unfortunate time. https://www.facebook.com/906193416070895/posts/2915942571762626/

OFFICE UPDATES in light of COVID-19 ONTARIO STATE OF EMERGENCY To patients of the Elmdale FHO, As you are likely well aware, Ontario is now under a state of emergency due to the imminent threat of a widespread COVID-19 outbreak. A large outbreak would overwhelm our already fragile health care system and place our most vulnerable citizens at a serious risk of morbidity and/or mortality. We all need to do our part to ensure we "flatten the curve" with measures like social dista...Continue reading

**COVID-19 PANDEMIC ELMDALE UPDATE including CLINIC CHANGES** Dear Patients of the Elmdale FHO, As you are likely aware, the World Health Organization has declared the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. In light of this, the physicians and staff of the Elmdale FHO are asking for your patience and cooperation as we IMPLEMENT SOME CHANGES in order to help prevent and slow the spread of this potentially-deadly disease in our community. Please read on to learn more....Continue reading

The Holidays are coming! Please see below for our Holiday Hours. All of these clinics will be on a walk in only, there will be no schedules appointments during this time. Dec 24, 2019: Closed Dec 25, 2019: Closed Dec 26, 2019: Closed... Dec 27, 2019: 9am-12pm Walk in Dec 28, 2019: 9am-12pm Walk in Dec 30, 2019: 1pm-745pm Walk-in Dec 31, 2019: closed Jan 1, 2020 - closed We will reopen for Regular hours and Appointments on Jan 2, 2020.

https://london.ctvnews.ca/mobile/video

**FLU SHOT CLINIC CANCELLED FOR TODAY** Unfortunately, due to supply issues, we are not able to run a flu shot clinic today. We should be receiving more flu shots from the public health unit early next week. Thank you for your understanding!

If you are an employer, please reconsider your sick note policy.

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/915836 "...older adults who reported taking sleep medications often were more than 40% more likely to develop dementia over 15 years than their peers who rarely, or never, took sleeping pills" Sleeping pills can be very hard to wean off of, often don't work as well with chronic use (you may find yourself taking extra pills or asking to increase the dose) and are not necessarily safe in the long term. If you are interested in slowly weaning off of your sleeping pills, speak to your doctor about developing a plan.

Please note that ELM STREET will be CLOSED at various stretches until NOVEMBER due to construction. Please make note of this and plan an alternate route to the office if you normally take Elm. If you are more than 10 minutes late for a scheduled appointment, we can not guarantee that you won't be asked to rebook.

https://www.cbc.ca//health-hacks-mary-jane-hampton-missed-

MEASLES is back. With MARCH BREAK travel coming up, if you are planning to travel with an infant or child who has not yet been vaccinated against measles (their first routine vaccination is at 12 months), consider coming in to receive their first dose early (as early as 6 months of age) prior to traveling to protect them from this potentially deadly disease! Children over 12 months should have 2 doses prior to travel (their second routine immunization is between 4-6 years of age). Measles can kill infants and young children, or cause significant morbidity such as permanent brain damage, deafness and pneumonia. These sequela are just not worth risking - get your kids this shot! https://www.theglobeandmail.com//article-toronto-public-h/

https://www.facebook.com/906193416070895/posts/2175486245808266/

https://choosingwiselycanada.org/sleeping-pills-and-older-/

https://brighterworld.mcmaster.ca//you-probably-dont-have/

Here are some of the sad sequela of the anti-vaccine movement - resurgence of these potentially deadly diseases that we had all but eliminated. Please check your child's vaccine records against the Ontario Vaccination schedule (http://www.health.gov.on.ca//docs/immunization_schedule.pdf) and if you are concerned that you or your child has missed a vital immunization then please book an appointment to discuss it with us! MUMPS Outbreak in Collingwood, Ontario... https://www.collingwoodtoday.ca//five-cases-of-mumps-in-co MEASLES Kills 70 in the Philippines https://www.theguardian.com//measles-outbreak-in-philippin CANADA headed for more MEASLES outbreaks due to vaccine hesitancy https://www.theglobeandmail.com//article-canada-could-se/

Here is a good read to learn about one of the less well-known but common causes of LUNG CANCER, especially in non-smokers - Radon Gas in your basements. https://www.swpublichealth.ca//envir/health-hazards/radon

Cold vs. Flu and what to do?! Here is an excellent article to read below to help you determine whether a doctors visit is worth it if you or your child has develop a sniffle or cough. https://www.npr.org//681783/is-it-a-nasty-cold-or-the-flu