Corona Virus Update 3/22/2020

Corona Virus Update -3/22/2020

To return to an old theme- toilet tissue- we at the office have hit a brick wall. We have about 4-5 rolls left and my husband ( our “shipping clerk”) just received an email that the order we were to have received last week has been cancelled and the earliest we can get any is May (sic) 1-26. This may determine our office schedule as much as any other consideration. We may start to take rolls in place of co-pays! Seriously, if you have hoarded, we would appreciate a donation of a roll or two.

We have now had 2  corona virus positive patients. Both have fairly mild symptoms and are recovering nicely, including a 66 yr old male, a former smoker. It is taking 5-6 days to get COVID test results back from the lab, with resultant prolonged quarantine. I hope this shortens as the labs ramp up but they may get overwhelmed by the number of new tests sent in.

In compliance with Governor Wolfe’s directive, we are downsizing our staff so that we can maintain a 6 foot distance between us. This may result in some delays on phone answering. However, for urgent problems or appointments, please call, not email us on the portal. The phones seem busiest in the AM and early afternoon. We are  going to try to limit the number of doctors in the office to 2 during a given time period, to have one as a back-up in case one of us has to self-quarantine. We are going to call people with pending appointments to try to schedule as many appointments as possible as telemedicine appointments. We hope you won’t mind if another doctor than your usual one does your televisit because we may need to move a doctor to the outside tent when needed.

For most acute illnesses and for visits where a physical examination is needed, we will need to see you in the office. If the Governor activates the National Guard to monitor people moving around outside, and you want a note from us in case you are stopped, saying that you have an appointment, please let us know in advance and we can fax or email you one.

We will be screening all patients for fever on arrival at the office. If you have a fever, you will be seen in the isolation room or tent (hopefully will arrive Tuesday). If you have had any symptoms of fever, new/recent cough, especially with shortness of breath or new achiness, please tell us when you call for an appointment. Check your temperature before you call, if possible, and don’t take Tylenol/acetaminophen or ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) or naproxen (Aleve) for 4-6 hrs. before taking your temperature.

Televisits

To do a televisit, make sure you have signed up with us for the patient portal. Call later in the day if you need to sign up or get your password. You can then download the free Healow Medical app from the App store on your iPhone or Android. Don’t try to find our office using the name, address, doctor’s name, etc.- it doesn’t work well. Instead, when asked, use the office code- JHACBA.  Once you have downloaded the app and have scheduled a televisit with us, log on, enter your password, then click “Start Visit”. You may enter your height, weight and blood pressure if you have collected these. Do the compatability check and then click “Proceed”. We can email you any necessary medical history forms before your visit.