Service Disruption Notice

COVID-19 VACCINE:

For the most up to date information on the COVID-19 Vaccine in Chatham-Kent, please refer to the Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit Website

Listen to Kyla Stonefish, Director of the Walpole Island Health Centre, as she shares an invaluable message through the Indigenous lens about COVID-19 and the importance of vaccination.

Listen to information about the COVID-19 Vaccination for Youth made by the Indigenous Primary Health Care Council.

Some things to note:

• All vaccines provided in Ontario provide strong protection against COVID-19 and its variants.
• Vaccinating as many people as possible is the most important thing we can do to protect against COVID-19 and help us all get back to normal life as soon as possible.
• Every dose brings us closer to what we’ve missed.
• Vaccines are the best way to protect your child and your family from COVID-19, including highly contagious variants.
• The faster everyone gets vaccinated, the sooner we can all safely resume doing the things we’ve missed.
• When you and your kids 12 and over get vaccinated, it helps protect other family members too, such as those under 12 who can’t get vaccinated yet, or older individuals who may have a lower immune response to the vaccines.
• Ensuring youth 12-17 are vaccinated means getting them back to class, to sports, to band practice, and to being kids again.
• Get the facts at Ontario.ca/COVIDYouthVaccine

INFORMATION REGARDING MEDICAL EXPEMPTIONS FROM COVID-19 VACCINATION

We at the Chatham-Kent Community Health Centres (CKCHC) strongly advise that all our patients who are eligible, be vaccinated against COVID-19. As we enter a 4th wave, it is predominately affecting those who are unvaccinated.

Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer reports that unvaccinated people are:

• 8 times more likely to catch COVID-19
• 29 times more likely to end up in hospital
• 48 times more likely to require ICU care

Medical evidence is clear that the benefits of vaccination out weight the risks. Given this, we strongly support the vaccination effort to bring an end to this global pandemic.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons has advised us that medical exemptions for the COVID-19 vaccination can only be given in the following circumstances: “Generally speaking, there are very few acceptable medical exemptions to the COVID-19 vaccination (e.g. an allergist/immunologist – confirmed allergy or anaphylactic reaction to a previous dose or to any of its components that cannot be mitigated; a diagnosed episode of myocarditis/pericarditis after receipt of an mRNA vaccine)”.

Letters for such exemptions may only be written by (or in consultation with) your allergist or cardiologist, or due to other rare reactions after a first dose is received, which would be directed by Public Health. Therefore, we will not be providing medical exemptions to our patients who do not meet the criteria.

If you believe you meet the criteria, you can make an appointment to discuss with your Physician or Nurse Practitioner. We appreciate that it is a challenging time for everyone and look forward to working with you to end this pandemic.

 

NEW E-MAIL PLATFORM

CKCHC is going live with a new tool to assist with securely sharing information with our clients on June 7, 2021

This new feature will allow us to securely send you:

• appointment reminders
• forms/information required for the provision of care
• information about our programs and services
• client satisfaction surveys to assess the quality of our programs and services

Your privacy is important to us. Please review our Consent for Electronic Communication. If you would not like your email address used for the purposes above and have previously provided us your email, please let us know as soon as possible. Please ensure that you review and verify your email address regularly with our staff and update us with any changes.

PRECAUTIONARY MEASURE BECAUSE OF COVID-19

As a precautionary measure and to help minimize the spread of COVID-19, the Chatham-Kent Community Health Centre has implemented the following:

• All primary care visits are being evaluated to determine if they are medically essential at this time. Telephone visits will be provided if deemed necessary. Clients will be contacted and informed if appointments are affected.
• We will continue to see medically essential visits in office. We ask that you report to the triage area upon arrival. Guidance Signs will be posted for directions.

PRIMARY CARE IS STILL OPEN!

PHONE CALL NOTICE

Please be advised that phone calls will not be answered from 12:30 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Monday to Thursday and from 4:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Fridays.

STATUTORY HOLIDAY SCHEDULE 2021

Please note that the Chatham-Kent Community Health Centres will be closed on the following dates in recognition of Statutory Holidays and will re-open on the next scheduled business day:

Wednesday, January 1, 2021 – New Year’s Day

Monday, February 15, 2021 – Family Day

Friday, April 2, 2021 – Good Friday

Monday, May 24, 2021 – Victoria Day

Wednesday, July 1, 2021 – Canada Day

Monday, August 2, 2021 – Civic Holiday

Monday, September 6, 2021 – Labour Day

Monday, October 11, 2021 – Thanksgiving Day

Friday, December 24, 2020 – Christmas

Saturday, December 26, 2020– Boxing Day