It has been a long 11 weeks since Waterdown Optometric Clinic had its doors open for routine care. The world has changed a lot since then and so has the way things will be running in our office for the foreseeable future. We have been busy during our time at home refining our protocols to ensure the safety of our patients and staff. We are confident we have achieved the gold standard of care and safety for these new times. These are some of the steps we are taking:
- We are reducing the number of patients in the clinic at any given time by reducing the number of patients we see for examinations per day. We will also be locking the outside doors to control how many patients are entering the clinic at a time. All visits, including frame selections and glasses adjustments, will be done by appointment. Please text or call us when you arrive for your appointment. If you forget your cell phone or don’t have one just knock loudly.
- We have installed plexi glass barriers around our front desk area and in the glasses dispensary.
- All staff will be wearing face masks and any staff member who will be interacting with patients will also be wearing gloves and eye and/or face protection.
- We will be requiring all patients who enter our clinic to bring their own mask. If you do not have one upon arrival we have masks available for $5. All proceeds will go to charity.
- While we have always worked hard to sanitize any touch surfaces between patients we will be ratcheting up our disinfection practices even further. Only cleaning agents known to kill COVID-19 will be used. All frames tried on in the dispensing area will be washed with soap and water or sterilized in our UV-cabinet before being put back on the board. We will have hand sanitizer stations for patients and staff throughout the clinic.
- We will be offering virtual consultations for any cases that can be managed remotely. This will allow patients to stay in the safety of their homes instead of coming into the clinic for many routine follow-ups and simple problems like red eyes or ocular allergies. Please rest assured that if during the course of a virtual consultation it becomes apparent a patient needs to be seen in person we will get them into the clinic as soon as possible.
- Retinal imaging will now be performed on ALL patients where possible. This will help patients spend less time in the clinic during their routine visits and it will allow the doctors an unparalleled look at a patient’s retina before they even come into the exam room. It will also minimize the doctor’s time in very close proximity to the patient’s face.
- We now offer free shipping for most contact lens orders and, when possible, we will ship glasses orders directly to patients (of course feel free to contact us if you need to come in for an adjustment).
We cannot wait to welcome you back through our doors. Stay healthy and stay safe!
Dr Juliusz Gorecki
