NCO COVID PROTOCOL RE-OPENING

Our goal is to resume Optometric Services at a high level while keeping our patients and staff safe. With that goal in mind we will have some rules that patients and staff will be required to adhere to. All patients and staff will be wearing masks. Patients are responsible to bring their own mask and to maintain wearing them throughout the office visit. Patients and staff will be asked a series of questions about COVID 19 signs, symptoms or possible contact with an infected individual at every visit or beginning of staff workday. We will check all patients and staff’s temperature with a non-contact thermometer before entering the office. All patients will be offered hand sanitizer throughout the office. We will be practicing social distancing as much as we can during your visit. There will be zones where patients will be guided to help minimize contact with others. All visits will be appointment only. We highly discourage “just dropping by” – this makes it difficult to control our safe sanitized environment. We request that only the patient enters the office unless a parent or caretaker is necessary.

The nature of our business prevents us from always maintaining social distancing, e.g. when the Doctor checks the health of your eyes, measurements and adjusting of prescription eyewear, but we will not converse and will try to limit the time of exposure. Retinal photos will be required since it greatly minimizes how long the Doctor checks the health of the back of the eye. Hand sanitizing will be encouraged and practiced throughout the visit by staff and patients. All touched areas by staff or patients will be sanitize as soon as possible.

We will be limiting how many times a patient needs to enter the office by offering mailing of both contact lenses and glasses (ask to have glasses pre-adjusted) and offering tele-health (Zoom-like visits) visits for follow-up care or minor issues.

If a patient cannot or does not want to follow our rules, then we advise them to wait until this crisis is over. If you have been exposed or have had COVID 19, we ask for 40days of recovery before making your appointment. We can only see healthy individuals; our office is not set-up for COVID 19 patients. There are other facilities that have isolation areas set up for dealing with COVID 19 patients.

 

Note from Dr. Mitchell Shulkin,

These are trying times due to the COVID 19 pandemic. I am excited to be able to help my patients again. I have instituted new procedures, training and policies to help keep EVERYONE safe. We are working hard and diligently to keep our office fully sanitized. Yet, we cannot do our job without our patients’ cooperation. If you are at all not feeling well or just don’t know, DO NOT make an appointment. I want to see only healthy patients. It only takes one person to infect a whole office among the many more that have visited during or after that time. It sounds scary, but I firmly believe our procedures will minimize any potential exposure. I know some patients will be reluctant to venture out. I understand and we firmly believe that in due time, we will make you feel comfortable visiting our office again. We can do this together and bring a little normalcy to our lives. I look forward to sEEing my NCO family!

PS We will be using a product called Pure&Clean to sanitize hands and surfaces. It is hypochlorous acid that is on the CDC list of approved disinfectants for COVID-19. It is non-toxic to the skin and works great!

 

Summary of Patient Rules:

1) Must wear a mask at all times. Bring your own.

2) Call the office for ALL visits Examinations, dispensing glasses or contacts, checks, etc- we will ask you some screening questions.

3) PLEASE do your paperwork online BEFORE your appointment.

4) Call the office when you arrive and wait outside or in your car.

5) We will again ask you some screening questions.

6) We will call you when we are ready for you. Please wait at the door.

7) We will take your temperature. If 100.4 or above – you will need to reschedule.

8) We will guide you through our zones to complete your visit.

9) We encourage paying online through our website or we can send a link to your phone.

 

COVID 19 QUESTIONAIRE

1. Have you tested positive for COVID19…?
2. Have you had contact with anyone testing positive for COVID19…?
3. Are you running a fever or a temperature OF 100.4 OR ABOVE…?
4. Are you having any trouble breathing…?
5. Are you experiencing any of the following symptoms: coughing, sneezing/runny nose, chills, headache, sore throat, and/or muscle/joint pain…?
6. Have you traveled outside the US in the past 30 days…?
7. Have you traveled outside of CA in the past 30 days…?
8. If you been exposed or have had COVID19- has it been less than 40 days since “recovery”?

YES to any question, you will be denied entrance to our facility. Re-schedule your appointment until you can confidently answer NO to each question.