To the patients and families of CMG:
We wanted to give you an update on what we are doing at CMG to help keep our patients, families, and staff as safe as possible while striving to provide excellent care.
First, we are moving wellness visits (checkups) to the morning. We also may see some sick visits without fever or lower respiratory symptoms. We are scheduling fever and/or lower respiratory symptom visits to the afternoon. Rooms are being cleaned thoroughly after each visit, and we are essentially closing our waiting room. Some patients may be asked to wait in their vehicles until called by the staff to come in and be taken to a room. We are unable to accommodate walk-in visits during this time, so be sure to call for an appointment. We want to prioritize wellness visits in the morning because this is the safest time to have well patients in the clinic. We know the importance of regular checkups, developmental screening, and immunizations, even in the midst of a crisis.
Second, you will notice our staff have personal protective equipment (PPE) on in the clinic. This is to protect them, you, and our other patients. We understand this may be startling to young children, so parents may want to prepare them by explaining the changes to expect (gloves, mask, eye goggles, yellow gown for some).
Third, we have implemented telemedicine in our practice during this time. While we are unable to safely care for all our sick patients by telemedicine, this offers a unique way for us to “see” our low-risk patients for minor complaints in lieu of a traditional office visit. These visits are billed to insurance just as if you had come in the office. We are able to prescribe medications (including antibiotics) from a telemedicine visit and will provide instructions and follow-up indications if your child is not improving as expected.
These are three very visible ways our patients will see CMG changing during this time. We are keeping up to date on a daily (sometimes hourly!) basis with the latest guidelines and recommendations from the CDC and the MS Dept of Health. We have our patients as our first priority and will do everything we can to provide the same standards of safe and excellent care we always strive for at CMG.
