COVID-19
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the safety of our clients, staff, and community must be our top priority.
We are now encouraging all clients and their providers to make alternate arrangements for sessions, including the use of telephone or video conferencing. Face to face appointments will be offered only when absolutely necessary.
Before attending any face to face appointments, please complete our COVID-19 Self Assessment.
If you have symptoms or may have been exposed to the virus, please cancel your face to face appointment and contact the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (1-877-721-7520) or Telehealth (1-866-797-0000).
Similarly, we will not hesitate to cancel sessions, or move to video or phone sessions, if we are not well.
Information about telepsychology can be found here.
As most sessions are now taking place via phone or video, you will be asked to provide a credit card number which we can keep on file. This will be charged only after services have been rendered, if you are responsible for paying for those services.
At a minimum, it is now important for all people in Ontario to be engaged in self-monitoring, which includes avoiding unnecessary contact with others. Anyone with symptoms or who is at high risk is encouraged to engage in self-isolation.
For face to face meetings, both the provider and the client must have passed our screening, and be at comparatively low risk in the event of an exposure. Your provider will wear a mask, and any clients old enough to do so are expected to wear a mask as well. Other additional procedures may be necessary, as in the case of performing an assessment.
Note that some services, such as psychoeducational assessments, may not be possible without face-to-face meetings. In this case, please speak to your provider. These may still go ahead, if the child, their family, and the provider remain healthy, but we are also happy to discuss rescheduling to a later date. More information about our procedures for safely assessing children during the pandemic can be found here.
It's important to remember some key facts.
It's true that the mortality rate from COVID-19 is not overwhelmingly high. However, it is substantially higher than it is from the seasonal flu, and will strongly affect those who are older, or whose health is compromised. Even among younger people, this virus can be dangerous; and those who are lucky enough to escape the worst symptoms can easily spread the virus. Therefore, everyone must take precautions against this pandemic.
Here's an interesting statistic: The seasonal flu is fairly contagious; one person with the flu infects, on average, 1.4 people. As each infected individual goes on to infect others, after 10 generations, the first infection turns into 14 infections. Left unchecked, as it was early in the pandemic, COVID-19 was more infectious; one person with COVID-19 infected, on average, 2-3 people. After ten generations? If completely unchecked, that one infection could turn into 59,000 infections.
Fortunately, in Canada, we have successfully flattened the curve. In Ontario, where most citizens now live under a mandatory mask order and are asked to practice social distancing and to self-isolate if they are ill, one infection now produces, on average, more or less one additional infection. We can beat the pandemic when that number falls below one, and stays there. This is why ongoing vigilance is so important, even as the number of infections falls.
If we work together as a community, we will be able to limit the scope of the pandemic. Evidence shows that social distancing and precautions such as hand washing and wearing a face mask can slow the spread of the disease; this can prevent the medical system from being overwhelmed and will help to save lives. But to achieve this, we all have to take action, even if we’re healthy and at low risk.
In the meantime, we pleased o be able to continue providing most of our services throughout the duration of the pandemic. We wish you and your family good health. And we look forward to seeing you face-to-face once again!
--Dr Jonathan Douglas & Dr Robin Mitchell
We are now encouraging all clients and their providers to make alternate arrangements for sessions, including the use of telephone or video conferencing. Face to face appointments will be offered only when absolutely necessary.
Before attending any face to face appointments, please complete our COVID-19 Self Assessment.
If you have symptoms or may have been exposed to the virus, please cancel your face to face appointment and contact the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (1-877-721-7520) or Telehealth (1-866-797-0000).
Similarly, we will not hesitate to cancel sessions, or move to video or phone sessions, if we are not well.
Information about telepsychology can be found here.
As most sessions are now taking place via phone or video, you will be asked to provide a credit card number which we can keep on file. This will be charged only after services have been rendered, if you are responsible for paying for those services.
At a minimum, it is now important for all people in Ontario to be engaged in self-monitoring, which includes avoiding unnecessary contact with others. Anyone with symptoms or who is at high risk is encouraged to engage in self-isolation.
For face to face meetings, both the provider and the client must have passed our screening, and be at comparatively low risk in the event of an exposure. Your provider will wear a mask, and any clients old enough to do so are expected to wear a mask as well. Other additional procedures may be necessary, as in the case of performing an assessment.
Note that some services, such as psychoeducational assessments, may not be possible without face-to-face meetings. In this case, please speak to your provider. These may still go ahead, if the child, their family, and the provider remain healthy, but we are also happy to discuss rescheduling to a later date. More information about our procedures for safely assessing children during the pandemic can be found here.
It's important to remember some key facts.
It's true that the mortality rate from COVID-19 is not overwhelmingly high. However, it is substantially higher than it is from the seasonal flu, and will strongly affect those who are older, or whose health is compromised. Even among younger people, this virus can be dangerous; and those who are lucky enough to escape the worst symptoms can easily spread the virus. Therefore, everyone must take precautions against this pandemic.
Here's an interesting statistic: The seasonal flu is fairly contagious; one person with the flu infects, on average, 1.4 people. As each infected individual goes on to infect others, after 10 generations, the first infection turns into 14 infections. Left unchecked, as it was early in the pandemic, COVID-19 was more infectious; one person with COVID-19 infected, on average, 2-3 people. After ten generations? If completely unchecked, that one infection could turn into 59,000 infections.
Fortunately, in Canada, we have successfully flattened the curve. In Ontario, where most citizens now live under a mandatory mask order and are asked to practice social distancing and to self-isolate if they are ill, one infection now produces, on average, more or less one additional infection. We can beat the pandemic when that number falls below one, and stays there. This is why ongoing vigilance is so important, even as the number of infections falls.
If we work together as a community, we will be able to limit the scope of the pandemic. Evidence shows that social distancing and precautions such as hand washing and wearing a face mask can slow the spread of the disease; this can prevent the medical system from being overwhelmed and will help to save lives. But to achieve this, we all have to take action, even if we’re healthy and at low risk.
In the meantime, we pleased o be able to continue providing most of our services throughout the duration of the pandemic. We wish you and your family good health. And we look forward to seeing you face-to-face once again!
--Dr Jonathan Douglas & Dr Robin Mitchell
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