Taruna Sharan, owner, PhysioMount Rehab Centre

When she opened her clinic for physiotherapy services earlier this year near Lawrence Avenue East and Scarborough and North York Golf Club Road, Taruna Sharan was looking forward to serving people with various physical disabilities or those with various injuries in the community. But safety restrictions in place due to the pandemic have meant that her business is “just in survival mode.”

“It’s been very slow for us. There’s no way we can make a profit right now,” she said. The clinic can only receive one patient at a time, unlike before the pandemic when multiple professionals could treat many patients simultaneously.

The ongoing dilemma for Sharan is whether to keep working within the limited capacity or completely shut down. When the clinic reopened after the lockdown back in May, there was “an influx of patients” who came rushing in, desperate for the services, she said.

“Many of them could not go to the hospital because it wasn’t an emergency, but their conditions were getting worse because of staying at home,” she said. “It’s a big mismatch in the system, and it brings a lot of stress for the patients and for us.”