KITCHENER -- A Cambridge pharmacist knows how important it is to keep a close eye on her patients, so she’s now conducting appointments in the parking lot of her health clinic.
Many of Danielle Thomas’ patients require consistent care.
“A lot of my appointments are testing people’s blood to monitor a certain drug they’re taking called Warfarin,” she says. “If the level of the drug gets too high we’re at an increased risk of bleeding, but if the level gets too low, we’re at an increased risk of clots. What I do is test the blood to make sure the dose is good and to make sure it stays within that safe level.”
When the lockdown began, Thomas worried about how it would impact patient care.
“We couldn’t just stop monitoring people,” she says. “We had to come up with a solution to keep patients safe, keep people in the clinic safe, and to make sure we’re still able to monitor this medication.”
So Thomas started testing people in the parking lot outside the Two Rivers Family Health Team in Hespeler.
“I knew that they would do what they had to do,” says Elaine, one of Thomas’ patients.
However there have been some challenges.
“My machine only works in certain temperatures,” says Thomas. “If it gets too cold, it’s not going to work, which was almost an issue in April.”
But helping her patients outweighs any of the struggles.
“My patients seem to like it, that I’m coming out to their car,” she says.
The Two Rivers Family Health Team is asking anyone who requires medical assistance to call ahead and book an appointment before showing up in person at the clinic.
