LETTER

Unimpressed with COVID precautions 

The COVID clinic on du Barry in Gatineau may be run efficiently, but it is absolutely not operating safely.

We were sent to the COVID clinic after a phone appointment with our family doctor’s office because our son had what we (correctly) suspected to be an ear infection. We were told the only way our son could be examined was by a doctor at the COVID clinic and were given an appointment for an hour later. 

At the clinic, my son and I were forced to come within 2 meters of staff and other patients many times. The clinic is intended to be organized unidirectionally, yet the same doors are used as an entrance and exit, forcing an awkward “quick slip by” anyone going the opposite direction. The main entrance hallway, perhaps 7 feet wide, is separated with a ribbon for those entering and exiting. The furthest patients could possibly be from one another is a meter, if people were walking in each direction. 

I was required to touch several surfaces, including the door handle, to enter and exit. 

The clinic is not equipped for small children. The only scale was for adults. At the direction of the doctor, I had to place my child on the bare floor while I weighed myself alone and then myself holding him (so the doctor could subtract).

Upon leaving with our prescription, a nurse advised that I should not personally pick up the medicine, as I had been at the COVID clinic.  Should I self-isolate? Neither the nurse nor doctor were able to answer.

I’m glad we were able to see a doctor, and at short notice, but I’m frustrated at how exposed my son and I likely were to COVID. It is upsetting that the only place my son could be seen by a doctor, despite not being suspected to have COVID (no COVID test was administered), was this COVID clinic run in such a haphazard way.

Name withheld

Aylmer