𝐏𝗪𝐀𝐇 𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐃-𝟏𝟗 𝐔𝐏𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐒 (07/10/2020)
Dear Pine Woods Animal Hospital Clients and Friends:
At this time, the Department of Agriculture and Markets has issued “Interim Guidance to Veterinarians Resuming Elective, Non-Urgent Veterinary Procedures and/or Examinations”. The following is their recommendation on how to proceed with curbside practices:
- Curbside intake and pickup of animals should be used, wherever practical, to minimize the number of clients in waiting areas and exam rooms.
- When curbside intake is impracticable, a protocol must be developed to minimize, to the greatest extent possible, contact between or among the staff, the client, and others at the veterinary facility.
- In situations in which a handler must accompany an animal into a veterinary facility for drop off or pick up, to the extent possible, there should be only one handler per animal patient.
- Where social distancing cannot be maintained, both the handler and the facility staff should use appropriate nose and mouth coverings when within 6 feet of each other.
- Veterinarians and their staff may use their judgment to allow an additional person(s)to accompany the -patient and handler in exigent circumstances (e.g. Euthanasia or due to fear, anxiety and stress levels as we have been).
Therefore, we will be remaining curbside until further notice. With this, we continue to:
- Restrict client access to the animal hospital by utilizing “curb-side” service.
- We are limiting one client per patient for those animals that require their human present (due to aggression or in consideration of euthanasia).
- For all appointments, we ask that you call us when you arrive at our parking lot, or if you do not have a cell phone, before you leave home. When you have arrived- we will take a triage over the phone and meet you in our vestibule entry to the hospital where we will take the patient inside for an examination. We will be able to discuss what we are seeing, diagnosing, recommending and prescribing, as well as any estimates over the phone with you as we are conducting the exam.
– In case of an ongoing crisis or emergency with your pet (respiratory distress, active seizure, trauma etc), please come in immediately with the patient.
-If you are expecting a phone call from us, it may come from a cell phone number that may be blocked as we anticipate using multiple cell phones for our increased communication needs.
-We encourage medication requests to be processed through our online pharmacy- Vetsource which will be shipped directly to you. Alternatively, you can pay a $9 shipping fee to have medications shipped from Pine Woods.
-If you are sick with a fever or cough, or if you or an immediate family member have tested positive for COVID-19; or if you have traveled to a CDC high-risk zone in the last 3 weeks, please have someone else bring your pet in if he/she needs to be seen. Please let us know if this is not possible and your pet needs to be seen urgently – we will further advise.
-Thus far, there is no clear evidence that pets can be infected or transmit the virus. However, we do recommend that pet-owners who have documented COVID-19 infections check the AVMA and CDC websites for up-to-date recommendations about interacting with pets.
-These are unprecedented and constantly changing times, please be patient with us as we are navigating through this uncharted territory together. Please stay tuned for updates as everything evolves. We are truly sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.
The doctors and staff at Pine Woods Animal Hospital
Stay safe, healthy, and wash your paws
