A message from Newberg Vision Clinic, PC
We have received good news, and are able to reopen the clinic to serve your eye care needs beginning in early May. We are excited to be getting back to providing these essential services, but the way we serve you may look a bit different as we carefully follow the requirements provided by the State of Oregon and the CDC to keep our patients and staff safe during these unprecedented times. We will continually be reviewing and adapting our procedures as the situation evolves. If you are scheduling or coming in for an appointment, please make sure you take a look at the changes to our exam flow at the bottom of this notice!
We also are working to expand telemedicine and e-visits for patients with eye infections or acute care concerns. While many eye concerns require in office visits, we will triage your case to offer e-consults if appropriate for you.
We will be following recommendations including increased disinfection protocols, limiting the number of patients in the building, enforcing social distancing recommendations, increased illness screening, and asking all patients and visitors to follow our mask/face covering policies. While these procedures may make things a bit more difficult, the safety of our patients and staff are our number one priority. We appreciate your patience and cooperation as we continue to provide safe and excellent service to Newberg and surrounding communities.
If you were on our list of patients who were required to reschedule due to the Governor’s executive order, we will be contacting you to arrange for an appointment time that is convenient to you. We will do our best to accommodate as many patients as we safely can, the reopening is conditional on our ability to follow social distancing and health and safety protocols.
If you are in a high risk group and would prefer to defer your appointment to a future date, please let us know that and we will work with you. We can review your chart and see if deferral is our best choice. If you are in a high risk group and require an appointment during this time we have specific hours set aside for high risk patients to serve you, let your scheduler know and we can accommodate you during that time frame.
If you are ill with cold or flu like symptoms or have been exposed to COVID 19, we ask for your cooperation in protecting our community and vulnerable populations by rescheduling your appointment to a time when you are feeling better. This is a critical time for routine healthcare, and in order to continue moving forward toward reopening our community, we must all work together to control the spread of COVID 19 and other infectious diseases to the benefit of us all.
What to expect at your appointment – changes to the normal flow to keep you safe!
- Please pull in to a numbered NVC parking spot and call the front desk to check in from your car.
- Please wear a mask (patient and anyone planning to enter the office) per CDC guidelines. To preserve critical PPE please bring your own mask/face covering if you have one.
- To the extent possible, only the patient should enter the office:
- Please do not bring other siblings, friends, etc. to your appointment.
- If necessary or advised, a parent may accompany the patient into the office with children, otherwise please wait in your car and we will call you to alert you that your child has completed the exam. We will schedule any additional return appointments at that time, and can answer any questions regarding treatment via telephone or curbside.
- Upon arrival, we will present screening questions at your car (minors – a parent or guardian must be present during the screening process). Anyone who plans to enter the office must go through the screening process as follows:
A staff member will greet you and complete several steps before you enter the office:
- A Pre-screening Health Questionnaire must be filled out prior to entrance (minors must have a parent or guardian complete the form).
- Temperature will be taken (cannot be more than 100.4) and medications to reduce fever (Advil, Tylenol, DayQuil, etc) cannot have been taken within 4-6 hours prior.
- Use Hand Sanitizer (provided) just prior to entering the office.
- Paper work and health history will be filled out/ taken by technician from your car via telephone consultation, if possible, prior to entering the office.
- You will then be taken directly to the exam lane, and if a parent/guest is present, please adhere to social distancing markers and remain in the designated waiting area.
For optical visits, adjustments, repairs, etc:
- Pull into a numbered parking space and call the office phone number. We will need to limit the number of patrons to the optical area and will allow entrance when we are able. Please wait in your car until an optician comes to greet you after calling to notify of your arrival. We will do our best to do as many curbside services as we can for your safety and convenience.
- Anyone who plans to enter the optical must go through the screening process as follows:
A staff member will greet you and complete several steps before you enter the office:
- A Pre-screening Health Questionnaire must be filled out prior to entrance (minors must have a parent or guardian complete the form).
- Temperature will be taken (cannot be more than 100.4) and medications to reduce fever (Advil, Tylenol, DayQuil, etc) cannot have been taken within 4-6 hours prior.
- Use Hand Sanitizer (provided) just prior to entering the office.
- A mask or face covering will be required when in the optical.
- Maintain social distancing while in the optical, opticians will ask that any frames you try on be put in a tray rather than back on the wall for full disinfection.
Thank you for reading through this marathon email. We appreciate your patience, flexibility, and support of our small business during this difficult time, appreciate your care and support of each other and our staff, and are looking forward to caring for you and your family again.
Warm regards,
Jeremy Taylor, OD
Paula Taylor, OD
Newberg Vision Clinic Staff