These are unprecedented times for America and the world. Together we are confronting the COVID-19 pandemic. It is more important than ever to take care of one another and be diligent and wise in our daily activities. A critically important part of that means adhering, unequivocally, to the behavioral and infection prevention guidelines that have been strongly recommended by the nation's health care experts.
I wanted to take this opportunity to reassure you that we take our role as your trusted health care partner to heart. I have an exceptional staff, who have always made infection prevention a critical part of their duties. By doing such they not only protect you, they also protect themselves. You may only see us in our professional environment, but we also have loved ones for which we care. We do not want to become infected nor take an infection home to our family.
Together, have all been through these times before, starting with the AIDS virus. We have had MERS, SARS, Ebola, and the H1N1 just to name a few of the recent pandemic infections which we have faced. AIDS was exceptionally frightening as no one could figure out what was happening. It was then the CDC started issuing much stricter infection prevention guidelines for the health care community. They seemed so inconvenient in the beginning, but today those guidelines are a normal part of our patient care. I have been in dentistry for over 50 years now; yes, 50. When I started in dentistry, the concept of masks or gloves was unheard of; while most instruments were just quickly wiped with alcohol. There were not the disposable items which we have today.
We will be here for you, but we are going to ask that if you do not feel well, please cancel your appointment. We are going to make longer appointment times to have less people in the reception area; as such, appointments might take a bit longer to get. Please don’t be surprised, but we will be taking your temperature before any treatment.
We ask that if you are able; please visit our office by yourself--please do not bring another person into the office that is not going to be treated. Please bring your hand sanitizer and use it before entering and after leaving the office.
And of course, we will be here for essential treatments as both myself and Dr. McDonald will be on call.
There is a lot of misinformation and understandable concern about COVID-19. For the very latest facts, we encourage everyone to visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) website for COVID-19.