COVID-19 Business Updates: Lobby Re-opening Soon!
Thank you for your patience and support during the last year. Like most of you, we’ve had a very interesting and challenging 15 months. Each day, we are continually grateful for the opportunity to continue providing care to our furry friends and for maintaining a human connection with our clients. During what has been such an odd and somewhat isolating year for many, we have really appreciated the time we have been able to spend chatting over the phone with all of you and we look forward to the time that we will get to chat in person.
Last March, we changed to “Curbside Service” in order to minimize the risk of Covid-19 transmission. So, far, we’ve been fortunate that our strict hospital policies and procedures have enabled us to stay open when many clinics around us were closed due to quarantine. In our profession, there’s no way for our staff to maintain distance from each other and if one staff member contracts the virus, our entire staff needs to quarantine. Of course, Curbside Service is not ideal because we really do miss connecting with you in person.
To be completely transparent however, this last year has been a little bit of a dream come true for most of our staff. We get to come to work every day and spend extra time with your pets. We have pets spending the day with us for Drop-off appointments, as well as pets coming and going for regularly scheduled appointments. It’s an animal lover’s dream. We give them treats, rub their bellies and praise t
hem the entire time they are here with us. We spend so much time with animals that we may be getting a bit rusty in our people skills. Please don’t be surprised if we have difficulty transitioning back to interacting with humans.
Thankfully, our staff has had the opportunity to be vaccinated and we are developing a re-opening plan to start allowing pet owners to come inside with their pets. We are hoping to re-open the doors in late June with new safeguards in place for both you and our staff.
- One person per pet allowed inside.
- Masks that cover the nose and mouth must be worn 100% of the time in the building due to ventilation and space restrictions in the exam room for now.
- Appointments with technicians will remain curbside
- Medication pick-up will continue in the foyer
- Drop-off and Curbside appointments will remain available for flexibility
The Covid-19 pandemic has created many challenges for the veterinary profession. We have seen many families adding a new pet to their homes. Communicating via phone (while wearing masks and face shields) has been difficult and and time consuming. Our staff has been juggling distance learning with kids at home and periodic quarantines because of Covid-19 exposures. And to top it off, we have had shortages of medications and supplies as many items were reserved for human hospitals. Unfortunately, most veterinary clinics, including emergency clinics, have been experiencing the same challenges as us which has created really long wait times and scheduling delays. To help alleviate some of the back log, we’ve changed our scheduling a bit by adding more flexible options like Drop-off Appointments. This gives our staff more flexibility to fit in urgent care needs and gives you time to run an errand or even go to work while your pet is being cared for.
I am so incredibly proud and grateful for my coworkers here at Northwest. They have adapted quickly to so many changes and have really stepped in to ensure that our patients get the care that they need. Their flexibility means that our patients are given the very best care efficiently and in a comfortable environment. Our goal here has always been to create a community of pet lovers and to make connections with people and their pets. For those that haven’t met our staff in person, we look forward to getting that chance soon. For our friends that just haven’t seen us in more than a year, we miss you and are excited to reconnect soon.
Dr. Sara