COVID UPDATE 5-13-20
Welcome back! We have missed you!
We hope this letter finds you and your family in good health. Our community has been through a lot of turmoil over the last few months, and all of us are looking forward to resuming our normal habits and routines. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your health and safety. Although our office has been closed, we have been working overtime to ensure we can provide a safe environment to return to.
Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice, as you may have seen during your visits to our office. Our infection control processes are made so that it’s both safe and comfortable when you receive care. We want to share the infection control procedures we follow in our practice to keep patients and staff safe.
Our office follows infection control recommendations made by the American Dental Association (ADA), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). We follow the activities of these agencies so that we are up-to-date on any new rulings or guidance that may be issued.
You may see some changes when it is time for your next appointment. We made these changes to help protect our patients and staff. For example:
- Our office will communicate with you via phone call before your appointment to ask some screening questions. You’ll be asked those same questions again when you are in the office.
- By the Governor’s mandate, we require that you come prepared with your own mask or face covering during your visit. We are unable to provide one for you.
- At this time, we are keeping our waiting room closed. Therefore, we ask that when you arrive, you call our office and let us know you are here. Would you mind waiting in your car until an employee is ready to meet you at the door.
- A team member will greet you at the front door and take your temperature before your appointment.
- We require that you come prepared with your own mask or face covering during your visit.
- We have a hand sanitiser that we will ask you to use when you enter the office. You will also find some in the reception area and other places in the office for you to use as needed.
- We have allowed greater time between patients to reduce waiting times for you and reduce the number of patients in the reception area at any one time and increased time for additional sterilization between patients.
- Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate visitors into the practice, except for special needs or unaccompanied minors.
- Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. That might mean that you’re offered fewer options for scheduling your appointment. We will be in touch to schedule the appointments that have been rescheduled. Please know that we are exploring options for appointment availability and will be in touch as we work through this process.
Also, we have increased the protocol for sterilization, disinfection, and air purification in the office. We will also offer you options to pay for treatment by telephone. We realize that many of you may have been impacted financially over the last few months. We are pleased to announce that we will be offering an in-house benefit plan this summer.
We look forward to seeing you again and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we take to keep you and every patient safe in our practice. To make an appointment, please call our office at 425-392-1256.
Thank you for your continued loyalty. We value your trust and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbours, and friends.
Sincerely,
Dr. Fisher & Team
