Did you know that?

The Omicron variant of the SARS- CoV-2 virus is rapidly becoming the dominant strain of COVID infections and should be regarded as such in our area. Early data suggest that individuals who are double vaccinated have an estimated 40% protection against severe illness from Omicron due to waning immunity over time. Getting a booster dose increases that protection to 75% by 2 weeks after the shot. Get your booster dose as soon as you are eligible to reduce transmission and prevent severe illness.

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More on Omicron:

Because Omicron is so prevalent and so easily transmissible all positive cases of COVID are being treated as if they were Omicron. This means that you need to quarantine if you have a high-risk exposure to a positive case, whether vaccinated or not, until test is negative.

Holiday gatherings will also be affected by Omicron. The recommendations are to keep your gatherings modest, ideally no more than 5-10 people, held outdoors or in a well-ventilated space, large enough to allow physical distancing, especially when eating and masks are off. Rapid antigen tests, if available, taken on the same day as the event can provide some degree of reassurance that participants are safe.

Of course, everyone should be fully vaccinated.

The ease of transmission of Omicron means that our health care system is at risk of being overwhelmed. What can family physicians do in these challenging circumstances?

Support your colleagues, your staff, and your patients by advocating for booster doses as much as possible. Participate in the vaccine effort in some way.
Remember and reinforce the basics – hand hygiene, physical distancing, and masking. Consider using N95 masks in higher risk or confined settings. Remember you are more at risk of getting Omicron in community settings than in your office.
Continue to see your patients in the office as necessary with judicious use of testing to keep them out of the ER if possible.

Longitudinal Clinical Experience for medical students: You can do your part to help medical students in first and second year by providing an observer experience in your practice starting in January for only 4 or 6 half days by the end of June 2022. This is a great opportunity to provide a generalist learning experience for the student and a sense of satisfaction for yourself as an Adjunct faculty member. A modest stipend will be provided. If you can help, please reach out to Shazia.donachie@schulich.uwo.ca

Canadian Residency Matching Service (CaRMs) Interviews for Family Medicine:

The CaRMs interview period for this year is February 28 – March 20, 2022. You can do your part to help recruit the best students into our family medicine residency training program by participating as an interviewer in our Recruitment Fair. Interviews are conducted virtually, and you would be required for one or more half day sessions. Adjunct faculty members are compensated for participating in interviews. Please reach out to fmpgc@schulich.uwo.ca if you can help.

Citywide Department of Family Medicine Awards:

We are pleased to announce our annual award winners for this year and hope that the awards can be formally presented at our Annual Clinical Day, May 11, 2022.

Chair/Chief award, Family Physician: Dr. Alex Summers

Chair/Chief award, Allied Health: Bernadette Garrity, RN, SJFMC

Consultant of the Year: Dr. Kathryn Roth

Special Project Fund: Dr. Brenna Kaschor

Thank you for All That You Do:

At this time, I want to acknowledge the tremendous work provided by our faculty members in the Department of Family Medicine. Thank you for the excellent care you provide to your patients, for the excellence in teaching our students and residents, and for those of you engaged in research and quality improvement. Your work is all that more remarkable during the pandemic circumstances in which we are living. I do hope that your strength, resilience, and dedication will carry you through. Help is available if you need it through our department and the medical school. Please contact susan.mcnair@sjhc.london.on.ca or faculty.wellbeing@schulich.uwo.ca for questions or assistance.

I wish you all the very best for this holiday season.