Dear Patients and Parents,
We have missed you all so much and are beyond excited to be reopening in a Phased approach starting Thursday May 21th!
We want to update you on our office, and the steps we are taking to ensure we do everything possible to keep our patients, our team, and our community safe and healthy. We have received our re-opening guidelines from the Provincial Health Office, The College of Dental surgeons of BC and Work Safe BC and must strictly adhere to these guidelines. As Healthcare professionals who have always followed strict hygiene and sterilizations practices, our team is primed for these new protocols.
This is what we are doing to keep you safe:
- Plexi glass barriers have been installed on the reception desk.
- Commonly touched items such as self check-in screens, game systems, magazines, beverage stations, etc. have been disabled or removed from the waiting area for the time being.
- We have ramped up the cleaning and disinfecting schedule for all clinical and non-clinical areas.
- Depending on your appointment type our clinical team might be donning enhanced personal protective equipment (PPE), such as N95 masks and/or face shields, and gowns.
- We are adding hospital grade air purification units from Surgically Clean Air.
We ask for your patience as we start rescheduling. We know that there is a strong desire to get your treatment back on track as soon as possible and we will work hard to achieve that. We have already begun rescheduling patients based on their emergency needs and on a first-cancelled-first-rescheduled basis, which is fair, efficient, and will serve everyone with getting back on track. The exception to this would be emergency care as this will be prioritized.
Appointments:
- Please wait for our office to call you/email you with the date and time of your rescheduled appointment
- There will be a limit on the number of patients that we can have in the office at any one time due to Social Distancing guidelines.
- Some types of appointments are paused until further notice such as retainer checks. We will reach out to reschedule these appointments when ready.
- Emergencies will continue only to be priority. For now, broken brackets and ill-fitting aligner trays do not constitute an emergency. However please call us with any urgent needs and we will do our best to triage these concerns.
In-Office Visits:
- When you arrive for your appointment, please stay in your car and call us once you arrive. We will call you back when we are ready for you to come into the office. Only the patient that is being treated will be allowed to enter the office. The only exception for this will be for our very young patients. Of those, only one parent/caregiver may accompany the patient. Absolutely no other family members or friends will be allowed inside.
- Please bring your own mask (or mouth covering/bandana) and wear it to your appointment.
- Your temperature will be taken by our staff using a touchless thermometer and you will be asked a few Covid-19 screening questions.
- Do not eat/drink anything hot or cold 30 minutes prior to your appointment. This will allow us to take an accurate temperature reading.
- Do not exercise 30 minutes prior to your appointment to allow us to take an accurate temperature reading.
- You will be asked to use hand sanitizer when entering the office.
- Please maintain the 6-foot social distancing guidelines when in the office until seated in the treatment chair.
- Our tooth-brushing station is closed, please brush and floss prior to arriving for your appointment.
- We ask for understanding while we will try to address all your treatment needs during your visit. Please advise us if you have any broken brackets or other issues prior to your appointment so we can adjust your appointment time if needed. Individuals with multiple broken brackets may not have everything completed during the first visit due to strict scheduling times.
Social:
- WE LOVE OUR PATIENTS! We also love to chat with you at your appointment. Please understand that conversations will at times be significantly reduced to allow for social distancing, running on time, and disinfection of treatment chairs and instruments
Team:
- We will take the temperatures of every team member, including our doctors, immediately upon arrival at work. Any team member at 100 F (37.7 C) or above will go home.
- Every team member will answer the health questionnaire that our patients are required to answer and will do so every day. If any questions disqualify the team member, they will be sent home following the same procedures we are asking our patients to follow.
General:
- You will find upon arrival that we have made changes to our reception area seating and consultation room to ensure the health and well-being of our patients and our team. We ask that you please follow these changes if you find yourself seated in the reception area.
We are so grateful for every one of our patients, and this time away has only served to make us even more thankful for each of you and therefore we are taking your safety VERY seriously. We ask for your patience and understanding during this transition.
Looking forward to seeing you soon!
Dr. Karim and the Team at Blundell Orthodontics
