STEPHEN RICCIO
PONTIAC Nov. 23, 2020
As per a CISSSO directive, all Family Medicine Groups, known by the acronym GMFs, will now require people attending appointments in their facilities with cloth masks to wear a three-ply surgical mask upon entry.
GMF du Pontiac coordinator Danielle Romain said that a memo was sent out to all GMFs within the Outaouais. The directive came into effect in the Pontiac on Nov. 23, after . . .
being announced through the Lotus Medical Clinic’s Facebook page.
“What we’re doing is the CISSSO will be providing masks for patients who present themselves with a cotton mask,” Romain explained. “To better protect our resources, our health professionals, whenever they consult with [patients] in-person. There’s no way of checking if your artisanal mask is one layer, two layers or three layers.”
The policy only applies to areas considered as ‘cold zones’, so patients entering CLSCs or emergency areas will still be able to wear their own cloth masks.
Romain said she is not sure why the directive does not apply to all health care zones.
“Yesterday we had somebody who works at the emergency CLSC [that] was arguing [about] why she wouldn’t be giving masks to the patients that walk in her department,” she said.
What makes those zones non-cold zones is that patients with COVID-19 symptoms might present themselves there.
“Now the reasoning why they don’t get procedural masks, I’m not sure,” Romain said. “But those are the government guidelines now.”
For patients who already have the surgical mask on, they will not be required to change it upon entry.
On the Facebook post that featured the announcement, one resident asked about those who might be specifically allergic to materials within the surgical masks. For people who have these kinds of needs, phone appointments are offered.
CISSSO is requiring that GMF coordinators such as Romain do a weekly inventory of the number of patients expected in family clinics so that she can coordinate with them the delivery of the correct number of masks.
CISSSO media relations officer Patricia Rhéaume confirmed the policy change in an email to The Equity but did not expand on the justification.
Federal Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam said on Nov. 3 that the best alternative to a surgical or N95 mask is a cloth mask with at least three layers built into it.
