COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

• Call us. If you have a new or ongoing health concern or question, your family doctor and health team want to hear from you.
• Prescriptions. If you need a prescription refill, please request this through your pharmacy.
• For non-urgent concerns, or reasons other than appointment booking, please call in the afternoon.
• Group therapy and educational programming is starting again – both virtual and physically distanced options will be provided. Visit our website or sign up for our newsletter for the most up to date information.

Changes in place to protect our patients and providers from COVID-19:

• Do not walk-in to any of our sites.

– Make an appointment to visit/pick-up/drop-off.

– Phone lines may be busier than usual due to providers consulting with patients over the phone. We apologize and ask for your patience … please keep calling!

• Connect by telephone or video appointment.

– Many health concerns can be managed by phone or video appointments.

– In-person appointments will only be booked when your health care needs cannot be met by phone or video appointment.

• Wash your hands and wear a mask.

– If you need to be seen in person, you will be asked to clean your hands upon entry and you must wear a cloth mask at all times within our space (except under 2 years of age or other specific exception), unless a provider asks you to remove it to examine you.

• Increased wait times for less urgent in-person appointments.

– In-person appointments for the most urgent concerns are being booked first.

– There is a limit on the number of in-person visits that are being provided for safety reasons: limiting the number of people in the office at a time (physical distancing), increased cleaning between patients, time required for providers to conduct phone/video appointments.

Effective March 16, 2020, our team has implemented changes in service to protect you and your care team.

1. Our Physicians, Nurse Practitioners and other health care providers can now assist you without physically seeing you, over the telephone or virtually. To see our virtual care patient statement please click here.

• If there is a medical emergency call 911.

2. Testing for COVID-19 is NOT provided at the medical clinics. If you think you may have COVID-19, use the self-assessment tool at this website: https://covid-19.ontario.ca/self-assessment to help determine if you need to seek further care. To speak to someone about COVID-19, call:

HKPR Public Health 1-866-888-4577
Telehealth 1-866-888-4577
NHH COVID-19 Assessment Center 905-377-3378 (8AM to 8PM, daily).

3. For information on the COVID-19 Assessment Center at Northumberland Hills Hospital, go to: https://nhh.ca/covid-19

4. Prescription renewals should be requested through your pharmacy.

5. Our Interprofessional Team is here to help you … call 289-252-2139 if you would like to speak to: Pharmacist, Physiotherapist, Mental Health Clinician, Dietitian, Chiropodist/Foot Care Nurse, Occupational Therapist/Seniors Wellness Clinician, Nurse. All group and in-office appointments will be rescheduled.

For more information on how to protect yourself and your family, please visit the Ministry of Health website:

https://www.ontario.ca/page/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-self-assessment

https://www.ontario.ca/page/2019-novel-coronavirus

Welcome to the Northumberland Family Health Team

Family Health Teams are patient-centred primary care organizations that offer patients access to a number of primary health care services from a variety of team members, beyond a family doctor.

Northumberland Family Health Team (NFHT) serves over 26,000 patients of 20 local family doctors who work together with other health care professionals to co-ordinate the highest possible quality of care for their enrolled patients. Our affiliated medical clinics include Cobourg Clinic, Cobourg Health Centre and Cobourg Medical Centre.

NFHT offers primary and preventative health care services to patients of the participating doctors.

The health care professionals include: Nurse Practitioners, Registered Nurses, Dietitians, an Occupational Therapist, a Chiropodist, Social Workers, a Mental Health Clinician, a Pharmacist, and a Physiotherapist. Each health care professional has special training, skills and experience and will work with the family doctors to provide primary health care to patients and their families.

NFHT emphasizes health promotion and improved management of chronic disease through treatment and monitoring as well as supporting their patients in improving self-management skills. Programs and services are being developed based on a strategic review of the health care needs of the patients and the community needs.