Frontline health care workers reporting issues receiving care for themselves
By GILLIAN SLADE on July 2, 2020.
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade A local paramedic says frontline health care workers run the risk of missing out on needed care for themselves. Tony Stretch, a paramedic, says when he arrived for an appointment with an ophthalmologist recently he was required to complete a routine questionnaire. One question asked if he’d had close contact to someone with a confirmed or probable case of COVID in the last 14 days. As a paramedic he answered “yes” and was immediately told he would have to leave the office and his appointment was rescheduled for December. Stretch says the appointment was particularly important to him because it was a six-month checkup after having had a tumour removed. He also raised the possibility that COVID-19 may not be gone by December. “I can’t tolerate this,” said Stretch. Alberta Health Services says something has been misunderstood along the way by the people reviewing the completed form. “This shouldn’t be applied to frontline health care workers who are wearing PPE when in contact with a patient with COVID-19,” said Kerry Williamson, communications for AHS. “A health care worker, such as a paramedic, who has come into contact with a confirmed or probable case of COVID-19 while wearing appropriate PPE is not considered to have had close contact and, therefore, is not required to self-isolate.” Williamson points out that health care workers know how to protect themselves with the proper use of PPE and other control measures. “Proper PPE use and controls, including donning and doffing, hand hygiene, continuous masking and physical distancing, ensure the safety of our healthcare workers and significantly reduce risk of exposure to COVID-19,” said Williamson. Very few frontline health care workers have tested positive due to workplace exposure. In fact throughout the pandemic, in the whole province, there were only 38 confirmed workplace exposures of 251 positive health care workers out of the 30,930 that were tested. “The rate of positive tests among tested health care workers is actually lower than that of the tested Albertan population. (0.8% vs 1.9%),” said Williamson. Another local paramedic says he has been denied access to a gym because he answers the questionnaire honestly and staff do not take into account that he has been well protected when in contact with someone with COVID-19. Stretch says doctors whose offices are refusing to see frontline health care workers who have completed those questionnaires, serve in the emergency department and would see patients there – even paramedics. He says it was not an emergency situation for him but he feels he was denied simply because he is a frontline health care worker. 17-16
