With the recent surge in respiratory viruses in children, and the added strain on emergency and health care services, a local doctors will be holding an online question and answer.
The community volunteer group, ComeTogetherCK, will be holding the Q and A online on Facebook Live this evening where anyone is welcome to join to ask questions about respiratory illnesses and viruses.
Local pediatrician and Chief of Paediatrics at Chatham-Kent Health Alliance, Dr. Wendy Edwards and Dr. Dax Biondi, Family Physician and Chief of Emergency Medicine will be online with moderator Tabitha Cook to answer questions from the public about RSV.
Dr. Biondi says with the surge of individuals going to the emergency department over the past few weeks, he and Dr. Edwards felt it was important to hold the session to inform parents on the right times to visit a doctor.
He says there are many different options for people to ask their questions.
"E-mail, there's a chat function on the Facebook Live that you can do. I think people can just talk, there's a mic, you can turn on your mic and just ask your question. We're going to have a moderator, Tabitha Cook is going to moderate it, so we have people who can ask their questions and it's going to be relaxed. It's going to be general information, but we're going to try to answer peoples questions as best we can."
He says many symptoms are for your average cold, but it's important to know when it's abnormal.
"I think we have to accept that viral symptoms are normal. There is a lot of viral illness going around, there's a lot of coughs and colds and sore throats. In a sense this is what we have to get used to, that is the normal for, I think, for the winter months. My hope is that we can give people the sense of what degree of abnormal they need to worry about."
He says no question is a bad question.
"Whenever someone has a question, you know there are 10 people who are too shy to ask that same question. There's no silly questions. All questions are valid, even myself, I find myself double checking things with my colleagues when I'm not sure."
Dr. Biondi says what symptoms to look for when it comes to respiratory viruses.
"Sore throat, congestion in the sinuses, runny nose, post-nasal drop so dripping down the back of the throat and maybe even causing a bit of a cough through the dripping onto our vocal cords, sore ears and an itchy ear feeling, eye redness and itchiness."
Anonymous questions can also be sent to info@ComeTogetherCK.com.
The session will be held on Wednesday, November 9 at 7 p.m. on the ComeTogetherCK Facebook page.
Attendance is free and open to all.