YELLOWKNIFE (September 15, 2021) - After staffing assessments related to local school closures the NTHSSA will continue Primary Care and Public Health Services at the same level they were being delivered prior to the school closure announcement. Home Care will see a new service reduction. 
Due to ongoing COVID-19 response activities the following service reductions will be in place in Yellowknife until further announcements are made regarding service ramp-up. 

Must Know Information:

• Urgent appointments will continue, if you have an issue that is serious or worsening and you require an appointment please go ahead and book in the appropriate place.
• Primary care clinics should continue to be the first call for acute care needs that do not require emergency services. All cancellations for all appointment types will be tracked and added to a call-back list
• If you have an upcoming appointment you will be contacted if it is cancelled or delayed. Otherwise, proceed under the assumption that your appointment will go forward. Any individual who has a procedure or appointment that is impacted will be contacted directly.
• New routine or non-urgent appointments will not be booked, but added to the call-back list

Primary care service reductions:

• Where appropriate, in general, most appointments will move to virtual care.
• There will be cancellations or delays of non-urgent procedures
• Pap and other routine “complete physicals” continue to be cancelled
• Pre-natal appointments will change to a reduced schedule, every second appointment will occur virtually by phone
• Chronic disease management and mental health appointments shifted to virtual or deferred if appropriate
• Diabetes Education Program and Opioid Maintenance Treatment Program appointments to be triaged by care provider and changed to virtual where appropriate.
• Most Worker’s Compensation and other work related appointments will continue.  If you are not contacted, please attend your appointment as scheduled.  To arrange for new appointments please contact the clinic directly.

Public Health:

• Yellowknife Public Health will be operating on reduced service until further notice. Appointments related to Urgent Adult and Child Immunizations, STI testing, TB program,  , and newborn vaccinations will still be available during this time.
• Week 2 and week 6 well baby checks will continue, other well-child checks may be deferred unless specific concerns are raised

Home Care

• Operating at reduced services. Patient care will be prioritized and triaged as appropriate. 
• Home Care staff will reach out to clients to communicate any changes to appointments or services. 

What can the public do to help?

• Help us protect our health system, now is the time to get vaccinated if you have not yet done so. People who are vaccinated are much less likely to get sick and end up in hospital.
• Help us protect our health system by reducing the spread of COVID-19. If you - or your children – are sick, stay home and get tested. 
• Help us to reduce the chance of exposure or transmission by coming alone to appointments when you can or bringing the minimum number of support people necessary.

For more detail on service levels see the Service Levels Dashboards.