Letter to Our Patients Regarding COVID-19

Dear Patients:

We hope this letter finds you and your family in good health. Our community has been through a lot over the last few months, and all of us are looking forward to resuming our normal habits and routines. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your safety.

Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice and you may have seen this during your visits to our office. Our infection control processes are made so that when you receive care, it’s both safe and comfortable. We want to tell you about the infection control procedures we follow in our practice to keep patients and staff safe.

Our office follows infection control recommendations made by the ADA, CDC, and OSHA. We follow the activities of these agencies so that we are up-to-date on any new rulings or guidance that may be issued.

We made these changes to help protect our patients and staff. For example:

  • Our office is continually deep cleaned and disinfected. Back office staff will be wearing full PPE including N-95 masks, gowns, face masks, hair and shoe booties, and following the strictest infection control measures. Front office staff will be wearing masks and gloves and disinfecting the waiting room and reception area in between patients.
  • We will be fogging between every patient with a non-toxic fog to kill any aerosolized viral particles.
  • We have replaced all of our heating and air filters with the highest MERV 13-grade filter.
  • Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions.
  • We have hand sanitizer that we will ask you to use when you enter the office. You will also find some in the reception area and other places in the office for you to use as needed.
  • You may see that our waiting room will no longer offer magazines, children’s toys, and so forth since those items are difficult to clean and disinfect.
  • Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients.
  • We will do our best to allow greater time between patients to reduce waiting times for you, as well as to reduce the number of patients in the reception area at any one time.
  • We will be taking your temperature with a touchless thermometer and a pressure finger pulse oximeter (check oxygen levels) to ensure your and everyone’s safety.

We look forward to seeing you again and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we take to keep you, and every patient, safe in our practice.

Thank you for being our patient. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors, and friends.

Sincerely,

Dr. Burlingame