B.C.’s numbers are looking promising.
As of 3 p.m. on April 16, there were 1,575 identified cases in B.C. This includes:
• 983 people declared recovered and released from isolation
• 670 cases in Vancouver Coastal Health
• 630 cases in Fraser Health
• 149 cases in Interior Health
• 94 cases in Island Health
• 32 cases in Northern Health
• 77 deaths
• 59,185 tests complete
Today I wanted to touch upon a couple of things. The first is to reiterate what Dr. Kleinhans said in her update from Thursday. The Creston Valley physicians continue to work in their offices. We are here to provide you with non emergent medical care and would encourage you to contact your family doctor with your medical concerns. Most of our appointments are currently being conducted by telephone or by using the zoom program on your computer. If you should need further assessment we can determine whether it will be necessary for you to attend the emergency department or whether it would be sufficient for you to be seen at our offices. We are doing our level best to protect those patients who do come into the office by limiting the number of patients in our offices and by having patients proceed directly to an exam room rather than sitting in a waiting room. Each clinic has set up a protocol for appointments and the staff at your clinic will instruct you as to how to proceed should your doctor elect to do an in person visit/examination.
For those people in our community who do not have a family doctor, we have set up a telephone service manned by physicians. Please call 1-855-411-1630 for your non emergent medical needs. You will receive a call back from one of our physicians.
If you have an urgent or emergent medical need, please be assured that we are continuing to fully staff our emergency room.
The second thing I wanted to touch on is the concept of the “light at the end of the tunnel”. Folks this is one LONG tunnel. We are not in a sprint. Make no mistake this is a marathon and we will all need to be creative to find ways to cope as this continues. As time drags on, living without some of the every day luxuries that we were initially willing to forgo, becomes more difficult to endure. I can understand the frustration in not being able to access services such as massage therapists, or aestheticians or hair stylists. Some of us have reached the point of desperation where we are reaching out and asking these people to “do it on the sly” for extra money.
Please folks, understand that these every day luxuries are NOT necessities. It is simply unfair to ask people in service industries to make exceptions. You are putting them at risk as well as putting yourself at risk. Even Dr. Henry is doing her own hair!
Ontario’s premier Doug Ford said something in a recent address that resonates deeply with me.
“We all have to ask ourselves, what is the cost of a life? Is a life worth a picnic in a park? Is a life worth going to the beach? Is a life worth having a few cold ones with your buddies in the basement? The answer is no. None of those things is worth as much as a life.”
So please, the next time you are tempted to ask someone to bend the rules for you, ask yourself, “Is this worth a life?”
Dr. Tara Guthrie
On behalf of the Creston Valley Physicians