Virtual Urgent Care appointment leads to sight-saving surgery

After months of writing about the benefits of Osler’s Virtual Urgent Care (VUC) service in her role at William Osler Health System (Osler), Deborah Churchill experienced it first-hand. “I’m sharing my story (or more accurately, my husband’s story) to illustrate just how well Osler’s VUC service worked for me – and could for you as well.”

With Emergency Department (ED) volumes increasing and projected to continue to rise into the winter months, the VUC is a great alternative care option, connecting you to an ED-trained physician from the comfort of your own home.

Deborah’s journey

My journey with VUC started on June 30 2021, when my husband came in from our backyard complaining of sudden ‘floaters’ and ‘dots’ in his vision. We had the conversation that many have when faced with an unknown or unexpected health issue.

Our conversation went something like this.

Him: ‘Do you think I should go to the ED?’
Me: ‘Hmm, I’m not sure. Does it hurt?’
Him: ‘No, it just feels strange.’
Me: ‘Well, why don’t you call our family doctor tomorrow?
Him: ‘Tomorrow is Canada Day. The office is closed.’

Then it occurred to me that his situation checked a lot of the boxes needed to use VUC.

• His symptoms were ones we felt could safely wait a few hours for an appointment.
• We were unable to get a timely appointment with our family doctor, in this case due to the statutory holiday.
• We weren’t sure if the symptoms were serious enough to warrant an ED visit and potentially long wait.

So we decided to try it out. The process for booking an online appointment was very straightforward.

My husband was able to get the first appointment slot on Canada Day. The physician he spoke with was concerned about the symptoms, confirmed there was an ophthalmologist on call at Brampton Civic Hospital that day (really helpful), and advised him to come to the ED as soon as possible. Because he had already been triaged via VUC, when he arrived in the ED he was sent straight for diagnostic imaging and, following that, was referred same-day to a nearby eye clinic for further testing.

The diagnosis was serious – a detached retina with multiple tears – which required two emergency surgeries at St. Mike’s in Toronto where they specialize in this area, and 14 very long days of face-down recovery. (He passed the time watching hours of Olympic coverage, in case you’re wondering.)

Looking back, my husband and I are so incredibly grateful we made that call to Osler’s VUC service. It validated that his symptoms required an ED visit and expedited access to sight-saving surgery. I’m happy to report that he has fully recovered and is back to doing the things he loves to do.