The news is full of information regarding Coronavirus/COVID-19. I am not going to try to give all the information available at the moment, but I will link the sites to trust here. Overall, my opinion from everything I have been reading and learning about this threat is that this is NOT a time to panic, but it is a time to be smart, careful and prepared. There is a very real potential that the panic about this threat may cause as much or more harm than the virus itself. The information about this virus and the threat itself is literally changing daily, so our response will HAVE to remain flexible as well.
We are implementing some important changes to our systems and protocols to try to keep our patients as safe as possible, to continue to care for non-coronavirus health needs (because these don’t go away just because there is a new threat), and to be able to respond if and when this virus reaches our community. Currently, there have been NO confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Putnam County, but that doesn’t mean that no one in the county has had it with mild symptoms. So far, we have not had access to broad testing, but I am hopeful that this will be improving very soon. As testing increases, I would expect the number of cases across the country to increase as we cannot confirm a case of coronavirus without being able to test for it.
Our office has made the following changes (some of these were already planned but will help us greatly with managing this threat).
1) We are implementing a new communication system called Spruce. This will allow us to communicate better with our patients. Our current patient portal is still available for communication if you have been using that, but the new one will be more similar to texting and allow us to be able to get to urgent messages more quickly. If you prefer to use normal texting to communicate with us, we can do that as well, but you will need to understand that there is no way to make standard texting secure.
2) We are changing our scheduling to try to keep the patient with respiratory illnesses from being in the office at the same time as the patients who are not sick. I understand that this will limit some of our appointment time flexibility, but I believe the benefit of decreasing potential exposure to COVID-19 as well as to other viruses such as flu (which is still far more common in our community than COVID-19) will outweigh the inconvenience. We will adjust the amount of time dedicated to the patients with respiratory illnesses based on the volume we are seeing in the community. If we have high rates of need, we may need to reschedule some routine appointments to a later time after the crisis has passed. We do NOT want anyone to avoid getting treatment for other medical issues due to fear of getting sick at the doctor’s office!
3) We are offering telehealth visits effective immediately! This will also be provided through the Spruce app. These visits can help keep people who are well and don’t want to risk exposure to potential infections to stay home. It will also allow us to triage sick people that can be managed at home without bringing the virus to the office. I believe this will turn out to be a particularly valuable tool if we have high infection rates in our area. Because this is a new thing for us, please be patient with us as we work through insurance coverage and logistical issues. There are many things I can handle over video, but some issues still require an office visit. There are some things I can’t assess without being in the same room as the patient.
4) Although we always practice infection control practices, we are being especially vigilant about wiping down surfaces between patients and thoroughly sanitizing the office regularly.
Overall — Stay calm, don’t panic, but don’t believe it can’t come here! Wash your hands regularly, stay home if you are sick and only wear a mask if YOU are sick!
