Your Doctors Online
黛比·史密斯（Debbie Smith）的女儿在5月底开始挣扎一些身体问题时，她带了她去看他们的家庭医生。
但是科尔港的母亲说，他们的医生不屑一顾，他们没有解决问题。当女儿的健康状况不佳时，史密斯知道她必须做点什么。
“In my mind as a mom, I was seeing her symptoms getting more extreme and I just wanted an answer for this poor girl,” Smith said.
在试图在一个步入式诊所获得一个席位，在那里人们在下午3点之前排队参加下午5点的摄入量之后，史密斯在网上拼命寻找另一种解决方案。
她偶然发现了一个名为Your Doctors Online。她所需要的只是一张有效的省级健康卡，并声称她的女儿会被看到。她认为她没有什么可失去的，她尝试了。
史密斯说：“在不到五分钟的时间里，我去看医生。”
经过15分钟的咨询，医生确定了她认为是问题并开了抗生素。两个小时后，它已经准备好在她的药房里拿起。
史密斯说：“在15分钟内，我们做出了解决方案，我们就像，‘这真是令人难以置信。’
“她迅速开始减轻症状，这已经是几个月了，她一直在处理这个问题。”
史密斯（Smith）在一个省级Facebook小组上发布了她的故事，并被回应所淹没。她听到了几个人的消息，尽管有家庭医生也感到被解雇，并且无法为他们的问题获得帮助。
Many others with (and without) family doctors reached out to thank her for making them aware of another option beyond the emergency department. Others shared that they’d also used the app and posted about their successes online.
“该应用程序阻止了我们实际去医院，因为我们正处于无处可去的地方。当家庭医生不在那里时，他们在我们身边。”史密斯说。
“现在几乎不可能进入。这太糟糕了。我只希望人们知道有希望，如果您有东西，还有另一个地方可以去。这是另一种选择，我们需要。它是免费的。”
Help fill a gap
尽管枫虚拟护理是史密斯（Smith）的一种选择，她无法在不支付费用的情况下访问它，因为只有该省为没有家庭医生的人提供的费用。
去年省政府安排with virtual care provider Maple to expand its coverage across the province.
Nova Scotians在需要的家庭实践注册表中可以访问枫木，并由Nova Scotia医疗服务保险（MSI）涵盖。
虚拟服务确保患者a primary care provider can meet with a doctor who can prescribe medications, order tests, make referrals for specialized care, and provide options for in-person care if and when warranted.
But for people who have a family doctor but can’t get timely access (or have issues crop up on weekends, holidays, or late at night) as well as those who want or need another option, Smith believes the app can help fill a gap.
“希望更多的人意识到它”
在这个漫长的周末之前，新斯科舍省健康再次告知患者“严重的患者能力和人员配备挑战”将比急诊室和急诊科入院的常规等待时间更长。
Yarmouth县居民Mona Doucette对较长的急诊室等待护理并不陌生。
杜塞特在接受采访时说：“在新斯科舍省农村，这已经是我们生活的一部分超过我所能计算的。”
几年前，当杜塞特（Doucette）在几个周末前开始遭受左耳的疼痛时，她知道这是一种耳朵感染，而且情况会变得更糟，因为她多年来一直困扰着他们。她不想在挤满的急诊室等六到12个小时或更长时间，但没有其他选择来获得她知道自己需要的抗生素。
尽管杜塞特（Doucette）认为自己非常幸运，不仅要拥有家庭医生，而且还拥有“哈利法克斯（Halifax）之外最好的医生”，她迫不及待地等待预约几天，也无法在不支付费用的情况下获得枫木虚拟护理。
当她准备在Yarmouth地区医院做长时间等待时，有人提到了您的医生在线应用程序。她下载并开始。在不到15分钟的时间里，她说她进行了虚拟的对话。
“They asked a lot of questions, so it was basically like a triage nurse asking questions like when you go to outpatients and you wait your turn,” Doucette said.
在与医生交谈并回答有关她的健康，药物病史和耳朵问题的问题之后，医生告诉她她需要耳朵掉落和抗生素处方，并说他们会被传真给她的药房。
It all happened in under an hour. When Doucette finished the call, she reached out to her pharmacy to tell them to expect the fax. She was told it had already arrived.
“After I was done, I said to my mom, ‘Why go to the ER for something as minor as this if there’s another option? Why take up a spot when I don’t have to,” Doucette said.
“This was just so much easier. People who need prescriptions filled or those who have things happen in the middle of the night or on weekends but don’t require emerge could really benefit from this. It’s a really good system and I want more people to be aware of it.”
‘Be cautious’
In an emailed statement, the Department of Health and Wellness said the province isn’t aware of the company Your Doctors Online and doesn’t have any arrangements with them.
发言人Khalehla Perrault写道：“我们建议新斯科舍省人谨慎地向不隶属于该省Nova Scotia Health或Mediavie的第三方提供商提供其健康卡号码，以便获得服务。”
“The Department of Health and Wellness is going to review this situation to better understand this service and how they are using MSI to receive payment, as Nova Scotians are not directly billed through their health card.”
“需要我们能获得的所有帮助”
The Halifax Examiner reached out to Mississauga-based HealthATech Solutions Inc., the company behind the app, to learn more about its services. They’ve not yet provided anyone to answer our questions, but we’ll provide an update if they do.
According to thecompany’s website，提供的地点包括新斯科舍省，安大略省，艾伯塔省，德克萨斯州，密歇根州，加利福尼亚，乔治亚州和德克萨斯州。他们说，他们拥有一支多样化的董事会认证医生，包括24/7，包括加拿大医生团队。
您的医生在线网站
The website also says patients with a valid health card don’t pay to chat with a doctor and get 10 free chats per day. After that, they must wait 24 hours or pay a $6 fee for the next consultation. Prescriptions and/or medication refills are also listed as being free with a valid health card, as are lab requisitions.
该服务不会为受控药物提供处方或补充，并敦促人们在需要急诊室时去急诊室。
Doucette said since her own experience, she has been “shouting from the rooftops” about the app’s existence as another alternative. Her hope is that others who can’t access Maple for free and who don’t require an emergency department visit will try the app and have the same success she did.
“This is a valuable tool for Nova Scotians and I think a lot more people need to be made aware of the app and they (government) need to look at this, but also at other things and more things like this,” Doucette said.
“我们需要我们能获得的所有帮助。对我来说，这是一个完美的100％。即使您不精通技术，如果您有可以帮助您的人，这是最简单的事情。”
Really interested in follow ups on this. The app seems to only cover specific provinces which would normally indicate some sort of official approval and arrangement, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. NS doctors “moonlighting” for the app? It’s a bit concerning that the Department of Health and Wellness seems to not know anything about how the company is getting MSI payments