Due to the desire to decrease the possible spread of COVID-19 in our community, we are undertaking the following steps:
1. We will only be doing healthy physicals in the morning. No sick will be seen in the morning session.
2. Our front office staff and some nursing staff will be working remotely from home. Unfortunately this will mean going through a phone tree to get to a staff member. This is a difficult decision as we pride ourselves on trying to have personal interactions on the phones, but we are trying to limit the numbers in the office and protect our staff members.
3. We ask that you do not bring siblings or extra relatives to the office visits. If possible, please limit it to the patient and one caregiver.
4. There will be no stickers, books, or puzzles available. Please bring something to entertain your child.
5. We will be asking all sick visits in the afternoon to call from their car to be escorted into the office to be placed directly in a room. We will ask that all visitors wear a mask and office staff will be wearing masks during sick visits.
6. We will be doing a lot of phone triage. If symptoms are mild, we will likely be encouraging patients and their family to stay at home.
7. We are in close contact with the county and state health departments, and Albany Medical Center. As testing becomes more easily accessible and widespread, we will help facilitate necessary testing. There is NO IN OFFICE TEST at present so all testing at the outset of this pandemic will be done through hospital testing centers.
This is a rapidly changing situation. Children seem to do better dealing with this virus then the elderly, but they may serve as a source of spread of the virus. These measures are an initial attempt to help decrease the spread of this virus in our community. Presently there are eleven cases in Albany County, but we anticipate that number to increase with increased testing.
We thank everyone for their patience and support during this situation. Hopefully, together we can decrease the spread and the effect of Coronavrus on our community.
Todd Giombetti, MD FAAP
Kathleen Brady, MD FAAP
Catherine Keating, MD FAAP