COVID INFECTIONS ARE RISING IN ONTARIO
(update: September 5, 2023)
COVID-19 cases in Ontario on the rise as new highly-mutated variant emerges
After months of declining cases, Ontario public health data is showing an uptick of COVID-19 cases this summer.
“Every single year in Canada, since the emergence of COVID-19, we’ve seen a rise in the community burden of COVID-19 as summer enters fall season and to no one’s surprise we’re going to see the same thing this year,” said infectious diseases specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch.
read more about the increase of Covid-19 cases by clicking here
Please refer to our Patient Masking policy below if you have or suspect you have respiratory or Covid-19 symptoms.
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Construction around the Clinic – Effective August 14, 2023
Significant TTC construction is currently occurring at the intersection of Broadview and Danforth resulting in restricted road access on Broadview south of the Danforth. Starting on Monday August 14, 2023, road closures will be in effect on Broadview from Pretoria to Danforth Ave which may impact your ability to get to the Albany Medical Clinic. The closure of Broadview Ave from Pretoria to Danforth is expected to start Monday August 14 (weather permitting) through to September 4, 2023 (3 weeks).
The Green P Parking on Ellerbeck will still be open but you will not be able to access it via Broadview Avenue. TTC (and Broadview Subway Station) remain open and operational.
If you have appointments at the Clinic during these three weeks, please plan for a little extra time to get here and be patient with the constuction surrounding the Clinic.
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NEW! Patient Masking (Update: July 27, 2023)
Visiting Family Practice and Specialists (2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors)
**Mask wearing is required for patients with respiratory symptoms – eg coughing, sneezing, sore throat. If you are experiencing these symptoms, please wear a mask into the Clinic and for the duration of your visit. If you are not wearing a mask upon checkin with our Receptionist team, you will given a mask and asked to wear it.
**For all other patients, mask wearing is not required.
Please note that the personal circumstances of your own family doctor may require that you to wear a mask based on their assessment of respiratory risk. Please also expect that your family doctor will continue to wear a mask and even other PPE.
Visiting our Walk-in Clinic (Main floor)
**Mask wearing remains mandatory for all patients due to the high volume of respiratory issues still being seen in the Walk-in Clinic and the smaller contained space.
**Please come to our Walk-in Clinic wearing your own mask and please wear it for the duration of your visit. If you are not wearing a mask upon arrival, our Reception staff will provide you with a mask that should be worn for the duration of your visit
Visiting the Diagnostic Imaging Department (2nd floor)
**Mask wearing is optional for patients without respiratory symptoms.
**Mask wearing is required for patients with respiratory symptoms. If you are experiencing these symptoms, please wear a mask into the Clinic and for the duration of your visit. If you are not wearing a mask upon checkin with our Diagnostic Imaging Receptionist team, you will given a mask and asked to wear it.
Please note that the personal circumstances of the Technologist may require you to wear a mask based on their assessment of respiratory risk. Please also expect that the Technologist will continue to wear a mask and PPE.
Visiting OHIP Physiotherapy (5th floor)
**Mask wearing is optional for patients without respiratory symptoms.
**Mask wearing is required for patients with respiratory symptoms. If you are experiencing these symptoms, please wear a mask into the Clinic and for the duration of your visit. If you are not wearing a mask upon checkin with our Diagnostic Imaging Receptionist team, you will given a mask and asked to wear it.
Please note that the personal circumstances of our Physio staff may require you to wear a mask based on their assessment of respiratory risk. Please also expect that the Physio staff will continue to wear a mask and PPE.
For all Patients: We are trying to balance the health of our physicians, staff and patients. If you are asked to mask, please take the mask and wear it – not just for your health but everyone in our Clinic.
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(Last Update: July 27, 2023)
Walk in Clinic Operation
We offer in-person appointments only. Every morning, we create a daily list of patients that need to be seen by one of our two family doctors working in our Walk-in Clinic. The daily list is created from patients who a) walk into the Clinic or b) from patients who call in to our Call Center to get on our daily list or c) Albany patients who booked online.
If you ‘Walk-in’, we will slot you to the first open slot on our daily list which we book one after the other.
If you phone into our Booking Center – same thing – you will be slotted into the first available appointment (or even later in the list if you prefer and slots are available).
If you book online, you will get an ‘appointment time’ which is effectively a spot on our daily list. Important to know: This is not the time that you will be seen.
When you arrive in person, our Walk-in Clinic staff will give you an approximate time that you will have to wait. You can choose to sit and wait or you can leave and come back. Remember – there are patients who are on the list before you and you will need to wait for patients on the list ahead of you to be seen. This means that sometimes you may be seen right away or sometimes you have to wait 2-3 hours to be seen. It may also look like someone came after you and is being seen before you. But…we see patients based on the daily list.
Albany patients (rostered to a family doctor) only: If you have tested positive for COVID and can’t get an appointment with your Albany family doctor, please let our booking staff know you are a patient of a family doctor here at the Clinic and a phone appointment will be offered in the Walk-in Clinic or your own family doctor. Do not come into the Clinic with a confirmed case of COVID-19 – please continue to self-isolate at home.
Finally, wait times will vary based on patient demand and how many physicians we have available to work. You could be seen quite quickly or you may have to wait up to 3 hours. Every patient brings different issues to our physicians which takes varying amounts of time. Any estimates that staff may give about wait times can be changed based on the events of the day. Please be patient as you wait to get healthcare services at our Clinic. Please know that aggressive and rude behaviour to staff and physicians will not be tolerated and you will be asked to seek healthcare somewhere else. We are all doing the best we can and appreciate your support.
Some Q&A:
Why are you still doing Covid-19 screening and asking me to wear a mask?
We see a lot of patients who are feeling unwell when they come to our Walk-in Clinic. The screening and masking helps to make our Clinic wait space SAFE for you, other patients in the area who may be immunocompromised. Please respect that we take these precautions and work with our Reception to get screened and masked.
Why do I get an appointment time and then still have to wait?
We operate our Walk-in Clinic on a first come first serve basis. When you call, book online or just walk into our Clinic, you may see an appointment time (it’s how our medical records system sets up our schedule) but please know that any ‘time’ you may be given is only an approximate time. As you can appreciate, some patient issues can be dealt with by our physicians quickly and others require our physicians to take more time. So…if you are waiting, please be patient and respectful to our Walk-in Clinic Reception staff.
What if I don’t want to wait?
If you are on list for the day and do not wish to wait, please notify Walk-in Reception staff so we can remove you from our list and book another patient.
Our staff and physicians are doing their best to keep on time and we truly appreciate all patients who are polite, respectful and courteous! Your continuing positive comments keep us going during very demanding and stressful times in healthcare! Thank you!
Please know that if you are rude, disrespectful or are bullying our staff and physicians – we will ask you to leave and find an alternate healthcare option. This applies to both Albany and non Albany patients. If you have a family doctor at the Albany and your behaviour to staff and physicians is inappropriate, this will be shared with your family doctor.
If you are calling to book an appointment 416-461-9471, you can choose to stay on the line and wait for a booking agent to speak to OR you can choose a ‘callback’ feature that maintains your place in the queue (but you can hang up and we will call you back!)
NOTE: Please be advised Opioids/Narcotics will not be prescribed or renewed in the Walk-In Clinic. Please see your family physician for controlled substance prescriptions.
If your child or youth has the following symptoms and/or concerns, they may need emergency care. Please go to your nearest hospital emergency department.
- They have had a fever for more than 5 days.
- They have difficulty breathing, a stiff neck, seizure and/or an area of pain or redness (with or without swelling or heat).
- They seem moderately to severely dehydrated (for example, decrease in amount of urine, no tears when crying, dry mouth and tongue).
- They look very ill and/or are difficult to wake up, confused or delirious.
- They have a fever and a new rash that looks like a bruise.
- They have a fever and recently had cancer therapy.
Michael Garron Hospital has created an information sheet to provide to families about caring for a child with a fever. Please click here for the handout.
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UNINSURED SERVICES
We are all very fortunate in this country to have access to good health care paid for by the Ministry of Health through our taxes and the family doctors at our Clinic endeavor to provide the highest level of primary care to you and your family by focusing on delivering medically necessary services covered by OHIP.
However, not all services requested of physicians are covered by OHIP. We are seeing that more and more services and more and more demand for services not covered by the Ministry require significant time and financial resources to administer and operate our Clinic.
In the face of rising office expenses and government restrictions, we are unable to provide such services free of charge and the cost is the responsibility of the patient or the agency requesting the service. The fees we charge, based on the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) guidelines, are set out on the attached schedule by clicking here: AMC Uninsured Services as at Jan 1, 2023
If you are financially unable to pay for an uninsured service, you may request the fee reduction or exemption. We realize that there are special circumstances.
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DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING OPEN ON SATURDAYS!
Our Diagnostic Imaging services are open on Saturdays.
For your convenience, we are also doing Mammograms, Echo’s and Ultrasounds on a booked appointment basis on Saturdays from 8:30am to 4:30pm.
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Family Doctor Appointments (Update: July 27, 2023)
Online booking is available only for Albany patients. Check if your family doctor is offering online booking for in-person visits by clicking on either the top of this page, clicking the ‘Book a family doctor appointment’ to the right. If you wish to book an in-person visit with your family doctor, call 416-461-9471. Booking agent staff will be able to advise you of available appointments.
Did you know that instead of waiting on hold, you can choose to get a call back from the Clinic? With this feature, you do not lose your place in the queue – our system will dial you when you are at the top of the queue ready to have your call answered! We hope you will find this new feature helpful – we know that it has been difficult to get through to the Clinic and have your call answered. We continue to try and improve our ability to get your call answered!
Coming in for an in-person visit?
Please make sure that you do not have any COVID-19 symptoms and take a moment to read the screening signs before you enter the elevator. For physician appointments, you will already have had COVID-19 screening on the phone or by email when your appointment was being confirmed but if you are feeling unwell on the day of your in-person visit – don’t come in; call to switch your appointment to a telephone visit. Please be patient as we carefully re-open and increase our in-person visits!
DO NOT bring food or drink into the Clinic for your visit.
Having a phone visit with your family doctor?
If you need to send a medical photo to your doctor, click here for guidelines on how to take a quality photo.
When you have your photos ready to send, click ‘SUBMIT DOCUMENTS’ in the top right of this page.
NOTE: Doctor telephone calls to you may show on your phone as ‘Blocked Caller’ or ‘No Caller Id’. Please ensure your device is set to allow calls of this nature and that you still pick up.
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Patient Appointment Reminders by Email!
We are sending out email appointment reminders to patients with booked appointments with our Nursing Station, Family Doctor and Specialist appointments. Follow the instructions to confirm your appointment and don’t forget to complete the Covid-19 screening questionnaire! Want an email appointment reminder? Make sure we have your email address!
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Our NURSING STATION is open Monday to Friday and will only be accepting booked appointments; no drop-in appointments until further notice. (Ear Syringing, Injections, etc.) Please call our Call Centre at 416-461-9471 to book your Nursing Station appointment.
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Online Booking Tips:
– Have your Health Card number ready.
– If we have your email address, an email confirmation will be sent automatically after booking your appointment if you click on ‘Email confirmation’. (You can then cancel your appointment online if you needed to!)
– Online bookings can be cancelled online with a minimum of 24 hours advance notice*
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