March 18th, 2020
Dear Parent/Patient,
We are reaching out today to provide additional updates on the actions taken by our Practice during this challenging COIVD-19 situation.
Our doctors are continuing to stay up to date on the latest guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). We are doing everything possible to ensure that we are able to continue caring for our patients throughout the remainder of this pandemic. As we have announced previously, it has been necessary to make certain operational adjustments in our offices to ensure the continued safety of our patients and staff. We want to thank all of our patients for their continued understanding and flexibility with these adjustments!
In a continued effort to care for all of our patients, while also doing our part to stop the spread of this virus, we have made some additions to our previous list of modifications:
– COMING TO OUR OFFICE – PLEASE DO NOT enter any of our offices without calling first if you have concerns related to COVID-19, have a known (or likely) exposure, OR if you have symptoms consistent with the virus (i.e. fever, cough, and/or shortness of breath). This includes not utilizing our walk-in hours for any of these circumstances.
– PHONE CALLS – We continue to screen all patient calls for potential risk exposure to COVID-19 to ensure that patients with a known (or likely) exposure are not coming into the office without the appropriate precautions.
– WELL VISITS – It is important to remember that timely well child care is a cornerstone of keeping our children healthy. Even throughout times of widespread disease or illness, it is vital to limit a child’s risk by remaining up to date on all preventive care. To ensure that we can continue to provide these services without interruption, we have modified our well visit schedules to limit these appointments to the afternoon only. During these times there will be no scheduled sick appointments in our offices. Further, in order to ensure that our offices remain safe for your children, our offices are being thoroughly disinfected multiple times daily.
– OUR STAFF – We have an extremely dedicated group of providers and staff members who remain committed to your child’s health throughout this pandemic. We are taking every necessary precaution to ensure that our staff remain able to continue to provide care. Each staff member has their temperature taken and is screened prior to the start of their shift to ensure that they are not at higher risk of spreading the virus.
– VISITORS – Throughout the remainder of this pandemic, we are limiting the number of people who can accompany a patient during their visit to one parent/guardian. We recognize that in certain circumstances it may be necessary to bring siblings with you to facilitate a visit; however, if there are any alternative arrangements that can be made to avoid this, please do so.
– TELEMEDICINE – In an effort to continue providing all of our patients access to your trusted health care providers, Margiotti & Kroll Pediatrics will begin to offer telemedicine services on Monday, March 23rd. It is our hope that this service offering will provide patients who otherwise could come in to one of our offices the ability to consult with our providers via a secure platform. While a telemedicine visit is not a replacement for an in-office (face to face) appointment with our providers, we hope this technology will allow us to address certain focused concerns for our patients during these difficult times. Examples of some appointment reasons that may be appropriate for telemedicine visits are:
o Evaluation for COVID-19 related concerns;
o Routine ADD/ADHD medication checks;
o Cold symptoms with NO respiratory difficulty or fever;
o Pink eye with NO fever;
o Allergy symptoms;
o Localized rashes;
o Vomiting and/or diarrhea with NO constant and/or severe pain;
o Concussions;
o Feeding difficulties.
PLEASE NOTE: Our Practice has always made sure that all decisions related to medical care were done in the best interest of our patients. Beginning a telemedicine offering will not change this commitment. Our providers will not compromise their standard of excellent medical care during these challenging times. We feel strongly that the risk of compromising our medical care poses a much higher risk to our patients than that of a poor outcome from contracting COVID-19. That said, despite our best efforts to address a patient’s concern via telemedicine, there may be instances where our providers are not able to fully resolve an issue. In these circumstances, we will explain why an in-person visit is necessary to address the patient’s complaint appropriately.
– MEDICAL HOME – Please continue to remember that Margiotti & Kroll Pediatrics is your medical home, especially in times like these! It is important not to go to the emergency department or urgent care center without calling our office first! We are your doctors and we want to make sure you are getting the most appropriate care while also not overwhelming our local resources.
– TRUSTED INFORMATION – We recognize that there is a lot of information available regarding COVID-19. Please be sure to utilize trusted information sources for your information such as the CDC, AAP, and your local health departments.
Quality patient care is and will continue to be our top priority as we continue to navigate these difficult times. We sincerely appreciate the privilege of being your trusted provider of care to your child(ren) and we thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation and flexibility.
Letter to Patients Re: COVID-19 Operational Changes
