I will be re-opening my office in Tiburon on June 8, 2020. This is a note to prepare you for some of the changes you may notice and some new protocols we’ll need to follow when you come in for your next appointment, and hopefully reassure you regarding the ongoing safety of our sessions together.
There will be some differences, but not that many, mostly because the protocols that I have always followed, such as only working with one patient at a time, limiting stays and number of people in the waiting room to one person at a time, good social distancing practices, thorough hand washing, room air-out between patients and continuous air purification will all continue as they have in the past.
I will also continue to use all standard, contact and airborne precautions and now eye protection when assessing and assisting you.
I perform hand hygiene with an alcohol-based hand rub before and after all patient contact, contact with potentially infectious material and/or surfaces, and now before putting on and removing PPE, always followed by a thorough hand washing after PPE is removed.
I perform routine environmental cleaning and disinfection with emergent viral pathogen cleaning products, and continue to sanitize all commonly-used objects such as pens and door knobs immediately after they are touched. I disinfect all patient areas between appointments. In addition to the treatment table, all counter tops, chairs and door handles are disinfected prior to and following each treatment.
Continuous state of the art air and surface cleaning technologies combining AHPCO®, Bi-Polar®, ionization, germicidal UV and true HEPA with carbon filtration.
Properly handling, cleaning and disinfecting patient care equipment and devices is unnecessary because everything that comes into contact with you is disposed after single use.
There are currently no textile issues because all cloth surfaces have been covered with cleanable coverings. Laundry is placed in a special cleaning bag at the end of each day.
The entire office is disinfected prior to opening and after closing on a daily basis.
There are some other mandated additions as well, which may make certain aspects of our time together seem like a strange Scandinavian psycho-thriller, but will probably keep us safer from Covid-19 and a lot of other things at the same time:
While we are in the office, as per Marin County Health Board regulations, we will be required to wear protective masks, and follow strong respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette.
From now on please pre-screen yourself if you are suffering from any acute viral and/or COVID-19 symptoms such as fever, shortness of breath, dry cough, runny nose, sore throat, and especially loss of taste and/or smell. If you have any of these, we’ll need you to stay home to self-assess. We can also do a remote session, or postpone your appointment until a later date if you are exhibiting any respiratory symptoms, or symptoms which could be attributable to COVID-19. I am no longer legally allowed to treat COVID-19 or any other respiratory illness.
I am now required to screen all patients for COVID-19 symptoms and all symptoms of respiratory illness before they can enter the treatment area. If a patient presents with any suspected symptoms of COVID-19 or respiratory illness, I need to ask her/him to leave and go home immediately. Even mildly ill patients need to stay home and contact their physician for further guidance. If I am your primary care physician, then you won’t have too far to go or long to wait.
We’ll also need to check up on any international or domestic travel within the last 14 days and ask you to self-quarrantine at home if you’ve been out and about.
Again, if you have a fever or an active viral infection, you'll need to stay at home, and we can do a remote consultation and/or session.
Check-In Practices:
You will need to clean your hands when you come in prior to participating in check-in procedures.
Don’t be surprised when I point a ray gun at your forehead and pull the trigger when you first arrive, I now need to measure your temperature with a contact-less thermometer at check-in.
COVID-19 Risk Informed Consent:
You’ll also need to review, initial, sign and give me a copy of a truly morbid COVID-19 Risk Informed Consent Form.
My patient appointments have always been spaced apart to avoid having multiple patients in the office waiting room. If you feel more comfortable doing so, you can text me when you arrive and then wait in your car until you receive a text, call, wave or shout from me from me indicating that it’s your turn. Don’t leave a phone message, as they often take several hours to arrive.
Please come to your appointment alone, wherever possible. If a non-patient needs to accompany you, s/he is required to wear a mask and have her/his temperature checked.
Sorry, no more eating or drinking allowed in the office.
And a final word on the sticker shock we've been experiencing on the cost of herbs recently; yes, the prices of some of the herbs have gone up dramatically from what they have been in the past. This is because demand for the herbs has increased multifold due to Covid-19 and the fact that Chinese herbs and isolation have been the main tools used in China to stop the disease. Also the truth is that historically I have shielded many patients from the actual cost of the herbs, sometimes to the point of patients leaving the office with bags of herbs that cost me more than the patients pay for the entire session. Art and socialism have both been smothered in the current environment, so we'll each have to bear our own cross/cost in the herb department.
I will continue to monitor the COVID-19 infection rate in our local community and anywhere you may be arriving from, and continue to evolve my safety protocols consistent with CDC guidelines, as well as those of our state and local public health agencies, plus my own standards which have always well exceeded those above.
For those who can not come into the office for any reason, I will continue to do remote consultations and sessions until further notice.
To make an appointment, call, text or email me.
As I’ve said elsewhere, we’ve been rehearsing a protocol with this shelter at home business that we’ll probably go into and out of for the rest of our lives. Let’s make the best of it.
Thank you and I hope to see you soon,
John