Charly Tran is a Certified Ophthalmic Medical Technologist (COMT) and Interim Team Lead at 
Kensington Vision and Research Centre.

When COVID-19 hit Ontario in early-March, like so many health care providers, Kensington Vision and Research Centre (KVRC) was forced to make the difficult decision to scale back services. In fact, the centre was only able to see patients who needed essential eye care, about 10% of the number of people who normally come in. 

Now, over two months later, the eye care clinic is slowly ramping up the number of patients they see. The fear of catching COVID-19 is still very real, and some patients are understandably hesitant to return to a medical clinic for care. But, for our eye care patients, ignoring changes in vision or skipping eye examinations can put the most precious of our five senses at risk.

Don’t neglect your eye health. We’re here for you.

The team at Kensington has spent weeks planning and making many changes to ensure that the clinic is safe for all patients and staff. 

“We ask people to wear masks, or any face protection & sanitize their hands when they come in even when they’re wearing gloves,” said Charly Tran, Certified Ophthalmic Medical Technologist (COMT) and Interim Team Lead. 

Patients must enter through the lobby of the building to get screened for COVID-19 signs and symptoms. After passing screening, they are allowed to come up to the fifth floor to the clinic and check-in at the front desk with their proof-of-screening slip. Other changes include having chairs in the waiting room 2 meters apart.

“This has become the new normal for many. Patients are willingly wearing masks and not touching their faces. Tests that are not absolutely necessary are not being done right now, our protocols minimize getting close to a patient’s face and we change gloves between each patient and wear appropriate PPE.” said Charly.

Charly thoroughly disinfects all equipment in between patients.

Charly was one of the five employees who were still working at the eye clinic when operations scaled down. As a COMT, he is used to performing a variety of diagnostic tests. Today, it’s all hands on deck and he often finds himself doing more administrative work and helping out where he can.

“I like the way that Kensington works, if things make sense then we keep doing it, if something doesn’t work, we would stop and try for a better solution. Everything that we do put patients first and improves patient experience.”

Physical distancing is maintained.

This way of doing things has helped the clinic be nimble and pivot operations during these uncertain times.

“People need our help and we’re here to help. Nothing is forever, this too shall pass,” says Charly. “When you look back 10 to 20 years from now, we will see it as a growing experience for sure, adversity will bring positivity, for sure, you can’t see it as a bad thing.

Need to make an appointment with an ophthalmologist?

We want to make sure that our patients are able to get the eye care that they need.

If you already are a patient of Kensington Vision and Research Centre, please call us at 416-928-1335. A member of our team will see if they can advise you over the phone or if it’s necessary to make an appointment.

If the situation is not urgent, we advise patients to wait until the pandemic regulations loosen.

Are you a new patient?  Please ask your doctor to send a referral form to the clinic. You can find your ophthalmologist here.

Fax: 416-928-5075