Clinic News
Flu and COVID shots - Fall-Winter 2024
We will be offering seasonal influenza vaccinations for high risk individuals during the month of October and for everyone else starting in November. We have a suupply of high dose vaccines available for individuals aged 65+ and regular doses for all other ages (6 mo+). Appointments are required for flu shots and can be booked through My Health Access or by calling the office. We will not accept drop ins.
Children under 9 years of age who have never received a flu vaccine before will require 2 doses of the vaccine, given one month apart, in order for the child to receive adequate protection against influenza. Please remember to bring your child in for their second dose!
Please note we are still not offering COVID-19 vaccinations at this time, but they are readily available at many pharmacies for all individuals age 6 mo+. Please ensure that you have received all the doses that you are eligible for in order to receive maximum protection against COVID-19! If you are unsure about the current guidelines, you may speak with your pharmacist, or book an appointment to discuss with your doctor.
Mask Policy - updated October 2024
Although mask use is no longer mandatory for healthy individuals, we ask that any person who comes to our office with a cough (even if it is from a chronic/non-infectious condition) or any potentially contagious infectious disease to wear a mask the entire time they are in our office. Because many infectious illneses including COVID-19 are contagious before symptom onset, we also request that people wear a mask in our office if they either a) are parents or caregivers accompanying a patient with a cough/infectious condition or b) have recently been in close proximity to a person with cough/infectious symptoms such as at home or work. We also of course welcome people with no current symptoms to wear a mask while in our office for their own comfort.
We thank you for your ongoing resilience, commitment to community and support to our office and staff as we aim to protect our vulnerable patients from exposure to infectious diseases that may not be serious for healthy individuals, but could be debilitating or even fatal to the very young, elderly and immunocompromised population.
Ontario Breast Screening Program now eligible to woman 40 and over
The Ontario Government has lowered the age of eligibility for self-referral into the Ontario Breast Screening Program from 50 to 40 effective October 2024. Women eligible for the Ontario Breast Screening Program (age 40-74) are encouraged to self-book their mammograms as per current guidelines. For further information and guidance, please see Cancer Screening in the Ask Your Doctor drop-down menu
Fall 2024 - COVID-19 and Influenza Infections
Both COVID-19 and Influenza are circulating to a very high degree in our community at the present time. If you or someone in your household currently has symptoms of a respiratory tract infection, you should assume that there is a very high likelihood that one of these viruses is the cause. For helpful information and guidance, please see Respiratory Tract Infections: When to see a Doctor in the Ask Your Doctor drop-down menu as well as updated information about COVID-19 in the drop-down menu at the top of our website.
2023 Holiday Office Hours
Monday December 25 and Tuesday December 26 - CLOSED
Wednesday December 27 to Friday December 29 - Open regular office hours
Monday January 1 - CLOSED
Tuesday January 2 onward - Open regular office hours
Online Booking/Video Chat Update - Dec 1, 2022
As of December 1st, the Ministry of Health implemented new rules for virtual care. As a result of these changes, we have had to change the way in which we offer virtual appointments to our patients. Effective immediately, these are the conditions that must be met in order for a patient to have a virtual visit with the doctor:
1. A PATIENT MUST HAVE BEEN SEEN IN PERSON IN THE OFFICE WITHIN THE PREVIOUS 24 MONTHS IN ORDER TO HAVE A VIRTUAL APPOINTMENT BOOKED. This is because the government is of the belief that comprehensive care cannot be provided to patients without at least periodically seeing them in person. The government will no longer pay doctors the regular visit fees for virtual appointments if the patient has not been seen at least once in person within the past 2 years.
2. ONLY VIDEO VIRTUAL VISITS WILL BE BOOKED. This is because the government is no longer giving full payment to doctors for telephone-based medical care, because it is believed that doctors cannot provide the same quality of care by telephone as they can with in-person or video face to face visits.
All of our virtual appointments will be done via video chat on My Health Access, and more information about this can be found on the Online Booking page.
If both of the above requirements cannot be met, you will have to come into the office for appointments. We realize that this will be inconvenient for some people and we do wish we could run things differently, but unfortunately we are unable to change the rules that the Ministry of Health has created.
Phone System Update - June 8, 2022
We have switched our phones over to a call queue system. This system allows us to have callers be placed on hold for a short time while waiting for a line to become available to take their call. It also means callers will now hear a menu during office hours. Calling after hours will send you to voicemail as before.
If you are calling during office hours, you will have the option to be transferred through to reception, or directly leave a message instead. If the maximum number of people in the queue has already been reached, you will be transferred to voicemail. Likewise, if a line does not become available within 3 minutes of your call entering the queue, you will be transferred to voicemail.
Payment Policy Update - May 16, 2022
As of May 16, 2022, payment for uninsured services is required upfront, unless direct permission has been obtained from Dr. Wright to defer payment to a later date. See our Payment Policy page for more information.
We do not accept credit/debit. Payment must be made by cash, cheque, or e-transfer.