CORONAVIRUS, COVID-19
At the Colon and Rectal Clinic of Colorado your health and safety are our top priority. In light of the recent spread of COVID-19, we want to give you an update on the actions we are taking to ensure your safety as well as some information on receiving care at our practice during this challenging time.
Our office is currently open during our regular business hours. We are actively scheduling New and Established patients. If you have a condition or diagnosis that requires immediate care please contact us without delay. You will be provided an appointment (office or telemed) that reflects the urgency of your situation. This includes conditions such as cancer, infection, bleeding, acute severe pain, or rapid deterioration of health.
During the COVID-19 outbreak, any patient presenting to the office with a cough, sore throat or fever will be rescheduled to a later date or will be rescheduled for a telemedicine appointment. Of course, we ask that you not present to our office if you are experiencing any of these symptoms.
We have adjusted our office scheduling to maximize the physical safety of our patients and our staff. For those coming to our office, we require that you wear a mask or some sort of mouth and nose covering. We also ask that you sanitize your hands prior to entering the office. Immediately adjacent to all our offices are hallway public bathrooms. We ask that you wash your hands with soap and water for a minimum of 20 seconds in the immediate adjacent public restroom prior to entering our office.
We encourage you to limit the accompanying family members to those people who are absolutely necessary to your visit.
UNFORTUNATELY, WE DO NOT HAVE MASKS TO OFFER PATIENTS.
Telemedicine Appointments
In order to maintain the safety of our patients as well as our healthcare providers, our staff will be calling patients with upcoming appointments to ask screening questions.
We are offering telemedicine appointments to current patients who have symptoms (fever, cough, shortness of breath) or persons with potential exposure to a known infected other person.
We are also offering telemedicine to those who prefer to stay home for their appointment.
For NEW patients, telemedicine appointments may be appropriate but will be limited in scope due to the absence of physical examination.
Postoperative Patients
Post-operative patients are encouraged to keep their current appointment, unless their postoperative recovery has been reassuring and/or uneventful, in which case communication with your surgeon by phone or telemedicine may be appropriate. For patients having recently undergone anorectal surgery, with absorbable stitches not in need of office removal, a phone follow-up or telemedicine encounter may be very appropriate. For those patients with abdominal incisions with staples that need removal, maintaining your post-operative appointment is recommended. For those patients with concerns, wound management issues, or who feel that physical exam is necessary, please maintain your current postoperative appointment schedule.
Social Distancing
We remind our patients to maintain a six-foot distance between themselves and other non-family persons while in the waiting room. We are actively adjusting our appointment calendar to minimize crowding and traffic within our waiting rooms.
Patients, if they choose, can wait for their appointment in their vehicle, and we will call them when we are ready to take them to their exam room. You can either check-in for your appointment at the front desk and then wait in your car, or you can call our office when you have arrived to the parking lot and let us know that you are immediately available to present to the office for placement into an exam room.
We will move elderly patients into an exam room as soon as possible.
We know that this can be a difficult and uneasy time as the impacts of COVID-19 continue to unfold. At this time, we will continue to provide office, surgical , and telemedicine services during regular business hours, but will also make adjustments as necessary or required by government regulations and guidelines. Now more than ever, our goal is to work together to keep our community safe and healthy. We thank you for your support and patience through this time.
Other Resources:
● If you are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms such as fever, cough, shortness of breath, please see https://covid19.colorado.gov/testing for more resources on how to proceed and whether to get tested.
● If you are struggling and find that you need support or someone to talk to, the Colorado Crisis Services offers free, confidential, professional, 24/7 support by Calling 1-844-493-8255, or Texting “TALK” to 38255.
● For those who need assistance with childcare, both Colorado Shines (https://www.coloradoshines.com/) and The Colorado Office of Early Childhood (http://coloradoofficeofearlychildhood.force.com/) offer more resources.