Dear Patients,

I sincerely hope you are all doing well.

It has been trying times since March 2020, with the challenges and worries COVID has brought us.   On behalf of all of us at Ambleside Medical Centre, we are honoured to continue caring for you throughout this difficult time to the best of our ability.  I want to personally thank you for your continued support, compassion, and kindness for our team.    

As a family doctor, I believe in long-term proactive care, with time to create and review a comprehensive care that suits your health mentally and physically.  Our system does not provide us enough time, support, resources, or value in the proper care we desperately try to provide you on a daily basis.   This uphill battle and the strains of this pandemic with overwhelming anxiety and depression in our population has now caused physician burnout.  I have been struggling with burnout myself, and have been frustrated at a system which doesn't support comprehensive care for our patients.   I count as one of the thousands of family practicing in BC feeling very similarly.

These challenges have provided me the opportunity to grow personally and professionally.   As many of you are aware, I took a short time away from my clinical practice in order to devote more attention to my two daughters and my own health; as well as to engage in healthcare system leadership work.   Going forward, I am pivoting my career to focus on leveraging my strengths as a physician, leader, and health advocate to help create a stronger more equitable health care system that serves all.
Starting this fall, I will be seeing patient at a reduced capacity.  I will still continue overseeing and caring for your health, with the support and help from our phenomenal long-term locum doctors and team at Ambleside Medical Centre.  A biography of the doctor assisting with my practice will be posted on the clinic website soon.   If you may feel that this arrangement does not work for your care, please feel free to explore other options.

Below is a link for other family physicians in the community currently accepting other patients:  https://divisionsbc.ca/north-shore/our-initiatives/patient-focused/find-a-doctor

I hope you understand that this is a way for me to continue caring for you and your family, while embarking on bigger-picture improvements for our health care system in Canada.  

Kind regards,
Maryam Zeineddin
MD

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