Carrier Sekani Family Services Finalizes Prevention Plan for COVID-19

March 16, 2020

Carrier Sekani Family Services (CSFS) has finalized a prevention plan to ensure the safety of community members and avoid possible transmission risks associated with COVID-19.

Doctors, Nurse Practitioners, and Nurses will continue to see patients as usual, and our focus will be on virtual care. CSFS is a leader in providing telehealth services, which is a great strength during this time. Virtual care will include telephone and video conferencing rather than in-person visits. This will reduce transmission risks for everyone.

Things to consider:

• If you have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough and shortness of breath, you should self-isolate for 2-3 weeks, including no guests to the house, and no going out to shopping centres or grocery stores.
• Call your local health center before visiting your local health clinic during regular business hours. To avoid transmission, there are protocols to prevent contact with sick patients. Your health center will have specific directions for you and how you should proceed.
  
  • Outside of clinic hours, call 811 nurse lines for general inquires, or;
  • The new Northern Health COVID-19 Online Clinic and Info Line can be reached at 1-844-645-7811.
• As usual, call 911 or your local hospital emergency department for urgent care.
• If you are having the symptoms of COVID-19 and are in respiratory distress, notify the ER to let them know you are coming in for swabbing and/or emergency care.
• If in doubt, message a CSFS clinic for guidance.
    

To access CSFS health services, please consider the following:

• To visit with a CSFS health professional, please call the health center in your community as opposed to coming in during regular clinic hours so that we can determine how to best support you.
• Prescriptions refills on some medications can be filled by pharmacy without a doctor visit at this time.
• Medical notes for missing work are not needed at this time across the province.

When in doubt, please call ahead!

The focus right now is on preventing the transmission of COVID-19. This includes encouraging everyone to practice good hygiene (handwashing), self-isolation, especially for elders and anyone with compromised health conditions, anyone who has travelled outside of Canada, and anybody who has symptoms, as well as social distancing (while still caring for one another by keeping in close contact using the phone etc). One of the great strengths of our people is how we care for each other.

This is a rapidly changing situation, and we will be sending our regular updates on a consistent basis. Please look out for these communications in the following days.

Stay safe!

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