Whitehorse Daily Star

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Pauline Frost and Dr. Katharine Smart

Virtual care methods expanded

New virtual health care options have been created for Yukoners.

By Whitehorse Star on March 24, 2020

New virtual health care options have been created for Yukoners.

The territorial government and the Yukon Medical Association have worked together over the past few days to quickly set up new options for virtual care.

All Yukoners now have the option to have their regular doctor’s appointment by phone or virtual health, using the doxy.me platform.  This action is in response to COVID-19 and supports Yukoners while social distancing, the government and association said Monday.

Yukoners can find the virtual health link to their doctor at yukon.ca/covid-19.

Patients can also connect with their doctor by phone if they prefer, or as a backup in the event of Internet outages, such as the one that hit parts of the Yukon on Feb. 13 after a cable was cut in northern B.C.

The new options are designed to ensure that Yukoners experience minimal disruption to their ongoing health care while the territory manages the COVID-19 situation.

Patients should book appointments as they usually do and determine the best option for their specific needs with their physician’s office.

“As your doctors, we are committed to ensuring your health care is ongoing through this crisis,” said Dr. Katharine Smart, the medical association’s president.

“We are committed to providing safe care by adhering to social distancing practices in our clinics. We are asking Yukoners to be honest with us when screened for symptoms and exposures,” Smart added.

“We will ensure you get the care you need in the right location. The safety of your neighbours and your health care providers will depend on people telling the truth.”

Smart thank Yukon physicians “for their commitment to their patients and the health care system as the pandemic unfolds, and I want to thank our patients for your understanding and support. We are in this with you.”

Yukon.ca/covid-19 has all the information Yukoners need to use doxy.me.

Doxy.me is a simple and secure telemedicine solution.

If you plan to see your doctor via virtual health, click on his or her link at the time of your appointment and you will be placed in the virtual waiting room.

Patients should expect to receive phone calls from “blocked numbers” when their physician is calling them.

“As we all practise social distancing and work to prevent the spread of COVID-19, it is important that Yukoners still receive the care they need,” said Pauline Frost, the minister of Health and Social Services.

“Thank you to all our dedicated and caring physicians who are committed to ensuring that Yukoners get the medical care they need.

“This new tool will help ensure that patients, physicians and medical staff stay safe and healthy.”

Comments (2)

Up 3 Down 0

Juniper Jackson on Mar 27, 2020 at 1:14 am

Re Posting this.. please read, In another post, i commented on the flu as opposed to the corona virus..even quoted numbers.. another reader, sent me this email or explain to me why my comment, while true, was not the correct picture to present.. So..here it is.

This is from an immunologist at Johns Hopkins University.
Feeling confused as to why Coronavirus is a bigger deal than Seasonal flu? Here it is in a nutshell. I hope this helps. Feel free to share this to others who don’t understand...
It has to do with RNA sequencing.... I.e. genetics.
Seasonal flu is an “all human virus”. The DNA/RNA chains that make up the virus are recognized by the human immune system. This means that your body has some immunity to it before it comes around each year... you get immunity two ways...through exposure to a virus, or by getting a flu shot.
Novel viruses, come from animals.... the WHO tracks novel viruses in animals, (sometimes for years watching for mutations). Usually these viruses only transfer from animal to animal (pigs in the case of H1N1) (birds in the case of the Spanish flu). But once, one of these animal viruses mutates, and starts to transfer from animals to humans... then it’s a problem, Why? Because we have no natural or acquired immunity.. the RNA sequencing of the genes inside the virus isn’t human, and the human immune system doesn’t recognize it so, we can’t fight it off.
Now.... sometimes, the mutation only allows transfer from animal to human, for years it’s only transmission is from an infected animal to a human before it finally mutates so that it can now transfer human to human... once that happens..we have a new contagion phase. And depending on the fashion of this new mutation, that's what decides how contagious, or how deadly it’s gonna be..
H1N1 was deadly....but it did not mutate in a way that was as deadly as the Spanish flu. It’s RNA was slower to mutate and it attacked its host differently, too.
Fast forward.
Now, here comes this Coronavirus... it existed in animals only, for nobody knows how long...but one day, at an animal market, in Wuhan China, in December 2019, it mutated and made the jump from animal to people. At first, only animals could give it to a person... But here is the scary part.... in just TWO WEEKS it mutated again and gained the ability to jump from human to human. Scientists call this quick ability, “slippery”
This Coronavirus, not being in any form a “human” virus (whereas we would all have some natural or acquired immunity). Took off like a rocket. And this was because, Humans have no known immunity...doctors have no known medicines for it.
And it just so happens that this particular mutated animal virus, changed itself in such a way the way that it causes great damage to human lungs..
That’s why Coronavirus is different from seasonal flu, or H1N1 or any other type of influenza.... this one is slippery AF. And it’s a lung eater...And, it’s already mutated AGAIN, so that we now have two strains to deal with, strain s, and strain L....which makes it twice as hard to develop a vaccine.
We really have no tools in our shed, with this. History has shown that fast and immediate closings of public places has helped in the past pandemics. Philadelphia and Baltimore were reluctant to close events in 1918 and they were the hardest hit in the US during the Spanish Flu.
Factoid: Henry VIII stayed in his room and allowed no one near him, till the Black Plague passed...(honestly...I understand him so much better now). Just like us, he had no tools in his shed, except social isolation...
And let me end by saying....right now it’s hitting older folks harder... but this genome is so slippery...if it mutates again (and it will). Who is to say, what it will do next.
Acting like you’re unafraid is Silly.
Stay home folks... and share this because let’s be honest, some people just aren’t getting the message.

Up 6 Down 2

JC on Mar 24, 2020 at 4:14 pm

I read a good report just the other day. It states that in 25 years or less there will be no need for personal physicians or even surgeons. Computerized robots will do all that right into your home. Hospitals will be smaller with robotic doctors doing the surgery. Notice one can now get so much information on the internet even today to diagnose many ills. So, what we are experiencing right now may be a prelude to what's coming soon. When I was growing up, it was house visits. Today, it's clinic visits. Tomorrow internet visits.

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