Hello Everyone,
We hope this message finds you and yours healthy.
We wanted to give you an update below on the status of the practice during the current COVID-19 (coronavirus) situation.
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 health and safety.
As you may have seen, Governor Brown authorized dental practices to resume non-urgent dental care beginning May 1, 2020. This is great news, we are very excited to be able to see and treat our patients again. Unfortunately, the protective equipment we rely on is still difficult to get. Like many offices in Oregon, we donated our excess supply to help workers on the front lines. I have been working hard to recover our inventory and make necessary improvements given our new reality. We will begin scheduling non-urgent dental procedures on Monday, May 18th. We will be systematically reaching out to all our patients regarding upcoming appointments, however, if you would like to confirm or discuss an appointment, please call our office after May 11th at 503-223-1322 or reach out via email at info@geelandental.com.
Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice. You may have seen this during your visits to our office. Our infection control processes are set up 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 American Dental Association (ADA), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (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 do this to make sure that our infection control procedures are current and adhere to each agencies’ recommendations.
You may see some changes when it is time for your next appointment. We made these changes to help protect our patients and staff. For example:
| • | Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. You’ll be asked those same questions again when you are in the office. |
| • | 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. That might mean that you’re offered fewer options for scheduling your appointment. |
| • | 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. |
| • | The air in our office is filtered through filters rated at the high end of what is seen in hospitals (Merv 15). Additionally before reopening we will be enclosing operatories and getting air purifiers that will clean the air after a procedure before staff or patients re-enter the room. |
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 your patience and understanding during these uncharted times.
Thank you for being our patient during and after these tough times. We will not only get through this, but we will emerge stronger after it!
Sincerely,
Dr. Geelan