Special covid-19 protocols

Updated October 1, 2020

If you plan on visiting our office, please read through this in its entirety.

As local case numbers continue to ebb and flow, please understand that safety for our staff and patients comes before anything else.  Since re-opening after quarantine, we have had thousands of patient encounters with zero suspected transmissions.  These protocols are shown to be effective.  

1) Masks will be mandatory in our office at all times.  Many of our patients are elderly, or immunocompromised and deemed high risk.  The same holds true for some of our staff.  Please value their safety, and wear the mask properly over your nose.  Otherwise, we will remind you to pull it up.

2) Our doors are going to indefinitely remain locked to the public.  When you arrive to your appointment, please contact us at the number posted on the door.   Any person that enters our building will be briefly screened for fever, exposure, and symptoms of COVID-19.  If your temperature is abnormal, you will be required to reschedule.   We are requiring that all non-essential caregivers remain in the car and do not enter the building.

3) DO NOT BE LATE.  We are only permitted to have a limited number of people in the building at a given time.  We continue to work through a backlog of patients following the spring shutdown.   If you are late, we must prioritize those who arrive on time and you may unfortunately be moved to the back of the list.    

4) Our optical department will continue to proceed by an-appointment basis.   If you are scheduled for an examination then this will suffice for an optical appointment as well.  If not, please call ahead to schedule a time to look at new frames, pick up your new glasses, or to have your current spectacles repaired or adjusted.  When shopping, please try to select your frame as quickly as you can.  Keep in mind that every frame that somebody picks up must be set aside for sanitizing and decontamination before it may be put back up on our frame boards.  Our opticians are very good at their jobs, if you trust them they will help speed up the selection process significantly.  You will be allowed to briefly pull down your mask to model the frames, and if you must have ONE family member help with selection, this will be permitted but by appointment.

5) As part of your examination, It is very highly recommended that you elect for an Optomap Retinal examination.  In many cases this will allow us to defer having to use drops to dilate your pupils, will allow for more separation between you and your doctor, and allow you to have a more streamlined experience with us.  There is a charge for this, $29.  Some patients, may still have some conditions such as cataracts that will still be monitored best with dilation.

6) When possible, we will try to do as much pre-screening of current health histories, medications, etc. via telephone prior to your visit.  For everyone's protection, we are trying to limit interaction times between patient and an individual staff members to 15 minutes as recommended by the CDC.  Of course, this is not always possible.   If you have many questions, we will do our best to answer them in person, but please feel free to utilize other excellent means of direct communication with your doctor such as the patient portal. 

7) If you have tested positive for COVID-19 for any reason, within 48 hours of having a visit with one of our doctors, please contact us so that we may assist with the appropriate contact tracing.