We are continuing to modify practices in our office to provide you with safe and effective care.
Vaccine Eligibility
We absolutely recommend the COVID vaccine for our patients. We believe the vaccine is safe and effective.
We are now offering the current COVID vaccine. It can be received with the flu vaccine. When you make your appointment for the flu vaccine, ask if we have the COVID vaccine in stock. Please call if you would like us to schedule a vaccine for your child.
We are happy to schedule these vaccines, but we also encourage our patients to get the COVID vaccine wherever it is most convenient for you. Vaccines are available through many pharmacies, store locations, local health departments and other health systems.
For more information, visit the CDC website.
Testing
We are able to offer testing for the SARS-Cov-2 virus, which is the virus associated with COVID-19. Depending on your child’s symptoms and exposure history, we may ask you to schedule a telemedicine appointment or we may ask to see your child in the office. Depending on several factors, we may recommend a rapid test in our office or a send-out PCR test. Rapid test results are available in approximately 15 minutes, while PCR test results are usually available within 1-3 days of testing. If your child is scheduled for a telemedicine visit, you will be advised of a time to drive to our parking lot. Upon arrival, we ask you to call the office and a provider will come to your car to obtain the necessary swabs for the test. Please call our office if your child requires a test for purposes of traveling, and we will notify you if we are able to do this at that particular time.
Office Visits During COVID-19
- As the pandemic evolves, we have implemented changes in our office to allow us to continue to provide safe care to all of our patients. In general, most visits can be accommodated in our office. You no longer need to call from your car and may come to the front desk to check in for your appointment. Additionally, we will have devoted rooms for sick patients to be seen in, and we will ask any patients with sick symptoms to come through our back door. A staff member will meet patients at the back door.
- In most cases, we will now be conducting visits in office rather than virtually. If it is determined that a telemedicine visit is more appropriate (due to exposure history or other factors), we will ask you to familiarize yourself with the Zoom platform. Zoom is free, HIPAA-compliant and simple to use. Download a Zoom patient guide here (PDF). To use this, you will need to download the Zoom application to your phone or computer. You also will need to complete a consent form (PDF, DOC) to allow us to provide services through these virtual visits.
- We will be accommodating all ages for well visits. We will call you to confirm your well appointments as we always have, and we ask that you report any signs of illness (both you and your child) at that time.
- We thank you for your cooperation with these new policies and procedures. We are determined to stay up-to-date with the quickly evolving information and guidelines related to COVID-19, and we will communicate changes via our website and Facebook. If an in-office visit is needed, the following guidelines apply:
- If your child has a well visit scheduled and also has ANY sick symptoms, please let us know.
- If you yourself have sick symptoms, we may not be able to see your child for a well visit.
- When you arrive, please come to the front desk to check in for your appointment.
- We will continue to screen all patients for symptoms and epidemiological risk factors.
We are making these changes temporarily to continue to provide care as safely as possible. We know there are many people feeling very anxious. Learn more about COVID-19.