I definitely need more than one hand to count the number of times I’ve had to take my little one to be seen by a doctor. In fact, I might even need to start counting on my feet soon. In addition to his well-baby checkups, we’ve had to take him in for high fevers, vomitting, coughs, and rashes. I feel like between well-baby and actual illnesses, we have been to the doctors almost once a month since he was born– especially since he started daycare four months ago. And, I don’t consider myself a hypochondriac, or whatever that would be when you worry about your child being sick!
Quite a while ago, I started to implement a “pre-screening” of sorts before rushing baby to the doctor or ER, potentially saving us from hours of sitting in waiting rooms and exposure to other illnesses. We are super lucky to have access to Telehealth in Ontario, and this service has helped me on multiple occasions to determine whether baby actually needs to see a doctor or whether we’ve got the tools we need to handle the situation at home. As a new parent, having this kind of resource literally at the touch of a phone button is reassuring and invaluable. Oftentimes when baby is sick, your number one priority is settling baby and trying to get them calm and comfortable enough that they’ll sleep. Once baby is down, it’s nice to be able to call, review their symptoms with the Telehealth RN and determine whether baby needs to be seen by a doctor– rather than drag a screaming baby to the doctor only to find out that Tylenol every four hours is the way to work through the fever.
So yes, there have been a few times when I’ve called Telehealth when baby seems unwell and they ask questions about baby’s age, temperature, symptoms like breathing, lethargy, and more. What I want to know, as a worried mother, is the threshold for taking baby in to be seen– and they’ll often tell you. They might tell you to take him in if his fever reaches a certain temperature, if it persists for so many hours, if he exhibits certain respiratory symptoms, and more. I like to have that direction in my back pocket so that I can easily say “That’s it, we need to take him in,” rather than sitting on the fence about it.
It’s my most recent experience with Telehealth that compelled me to remind you of this service and what value it can bring to you.
A few weeks ago I was at work and received a call from toddler’s daycare informing me that he’d been bitten by the classroom hamster. It was almost a non-issue, until I consulted Dr. Google who informed me of various cases where children have died (?!) from hamster bites because the rodents can carry some nasty diseases.
Suddenly I had to do my due diligence to make sure my own toddler wasn’t going to succumb to some hamster-borne disease. In my heart of hearts I knew it was extremely unlikely, but what would we do if his hamster bite suddenly became infected or worse?
I didn’t really want to take a day off work to deal with a hamster bite if I didn’t have to, so I quickly got on the phone with Telehealth. They won’t assess the situation if the patient is not in the same room as the caller, but to my delight they were able to teleconference in the daycare where we spoke to the caregiver who had our toddler on her lap.
Through a series of questions we were able to assess the severity of the hamster bite, and the RN on the phone was able to give us a care plan (Polysporin and band-aids three times daily). This worked out doubly well for us, because in order to send something like Polysporin to daycare, you have to provide a doctor’s note– however, the daycare was on the phone to hear the conversation in living colour, so we didn’t need a doctor’s note. So although the whole rigmarole of investigating the hamster bite took me nearly an hour from my desk, it could have taken a lot longer without the help of Telehealth!
You can call Telehealth 24/7 and you will be connected to a Registered Nurse. You don’t actually need to have an Ontario Health Card to call, although they will take the number if you do have one. It’s important to note that the RN won’t diagnose the illness or provide prescriptions, but they will help you determine what your next steps should be, whether that is to take care of the problem at home, visit your doctor, or go to the ER. The service is free and services are available in English or French.
Obviously you shouldn’t use Telehealth if your child is experiencing an emergency– call 911 immediately. However, I believe that if you live in Ontario it’s a great idea to have the number for Telehealth, 1-866-797-0000 in your phone. You’ll potentially save yourself a trip to the doctor or ER, and you’ll get the reassurance you need to manage your child’s symptoms through what can often be long, stressful days and nights.
I recently became aware that Telehealth offers breastfeeding support and I plan to include more information in an upcoming post about breastfeeding resources– stay tuned!
Have you had any good or bad experiences with Telehealth as a parent? I’d love to hear about them!
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