Dear patient,
In a surprise announcement by Governor Cuomo on May 31, all dental office in New York State are permitted to open June 1, 2020. We are so excited to be able to get back on track with all of your treatments. In order to provide a safe environment for you when you are in our office, we are following the guidelines of New York State, the Centers for Disease Control, the Department of Health, the New York State Dental Association, and the American Dental Association for infection control and social distancing. Please read this letter so you know what to expect when you come to our office.
Everyone in the building must wear a mask over their mouth and nose at all times except when it is necessary to remove it for dental (or medical) treatment.
Call from the parking area to see if we have a room open for you. Reception area seating has been limited to maintain social distancing. We have also eliminated high touch items from the reception area; there will be no blocks, books, magazines, patient information pamphlets or game cube controllers available until the Corona Virus is no longer a threat, so there is no entertainment waiting for you in our office. We are making an effort to schedule more lightly to minimize wait times and maintain social distancing; this might mean that you will be offered fewer options when scheduling your appointment.
Only one person may accompany a patient into the office. Please leave additional “visitors” (siblings, friends, parents) at home. If a second parent would like to participate in a treatment discussion, we will include them over a video-conference medium like face time or Skype.
Take the stairs; avoid the elevators if you don’t need them. The doors to the stairways are propped open so that you don’t need to touch them. The elevators are limited to 2 passengers at a time.
Use the bathroom before you leave your house. We can’t control the number of people in the building’s restrooms.
Please wait at the door to the office until there is someone at the front desk to greet you, take your temperature, and ask you screening questions. If you or someone with whom you have spent time has had a fever, cough, shortness of breath, inexplicable loss of taste or smell, or has tested positive for COVID19 in the last two weeks, please call to reschedule your appointment. If you come with these symptoms we will not be able to treat you and we will be rescheduling your appointment anyway. Also, if you develop these symptoms within 2 weeks of the time you were here, please call us so that we can notify anyone with whom you may have had contact in our office.
Once you have passed pre-screening, you will be directed to a sink in the treatment room for all parties to wash their hands with soap and water. Patients will rinse with ioRinse to minimize the number of viable microbes that may be aerosolized during treatment procedures. IF YOU ARE ALLERGIC TO IODINE PLEASE LET US KNOW SO THAT WE MAY GIVE YOU AN ALTERNATIVE RINSE. Please throw paper towels in the green pail near the entrance to the room, not under the sink. Please save your cup in case you need it to rinse during your appointment.
After your appointment, please wait in the treatment room until there are no other patients waiting at the front desk. Then walk to the reception room and speak to the front desk staff through the glass window to schedule appointments or make payments.
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 (914)
253-0722.
Thank you for being our patient. We value your trust and loyalty and
look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors and friends.
Sincerely,
Dr. Judith Okun, Tracey, Corinne, and Deborah
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment