PLATTSBURGH — With her husband on one side and her kids on the other, general surgeon Dr. Lisa Mark says Can-Am border restrictions of any kind were troubling.

Mark, chief medical officer of the University of Vermont Health Network, Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital, has worked at the facility for 11 years, but was a resident of Montreal.

“Thus far, it has been travel to CVPH daily and home without issue,” she said Wednesday, adding that her family had worries of an official border shutdown.

“For now, I have brought my family down (to New York),” Mark said of herself and her two kids. “My husband has remained in Montreal and is working there.

If they do close the border to everybody … I won’t see my husband and he won’t see his kids for quite some time.”

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Border restrictions

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On Wednesday morning, President Donald Trump announced restrictions to the nation’s northern border crossing in response to the growing COVID-19 pandemic, saying it would soon close to all but essential personnel.

Though the president had said, via Twitter, that trade would not be impacted, North Country officials spent some time determining who was and who wasn’t deemed “essential.”

Per a statement from Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, health care workers had been cleared.

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Nearly 80 workers

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While Mark is both a U.S. citizen and a permanent resident of Canada, she said the same wasn’t true for her husband, who worked in the medical field up in Montreal.

“My husband is a Canadian citizen only,” she said.

The local surgeon said she and her two kids, an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old, had moved into the family’s small, stateside home that they have maintained for times when she was on call at the Plattsburgh-based hospital.

“So that’s where we are,” she said, adding that her kids were doing school work via distance learning, “but we have many people who don’t have that luxury.”

CVPH Senior Marketing Communications Specialist Chris Blake said the local hospital had about 75 employees who lived in Canada.

“As we look at asking people to stay — if it comes to that — and not go home,” Mark said, “we’re looking at hotel accommodations and things like that.”

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“A tough spot”

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As of right now, Mark said her family was readying for further border restrictions — just in case.

“I think, for my children, they would appreciate being able to see their father, but we are preparing for the fact that we may have to be apart for a while,” she said.

“We’re healthcare workers so we understand the gravity of COVID-19,” she added of herself and her husband. “It’s just a tough spot personally.”