Response to COVID-19
In light of recent significant changes in the prevention plans for COVID-19, the staff of SLLS seeks to inform our patients and families the following...
We hold our patients' health and welfare as our top priority. The pandemic created many challenges for our patients and families including: virtual learning, isolation, restricted social and developmental growth, and exacerbating mental health decline. Our medical speech therapy services are Essential for healthy quality of life; therefore, our office remained OPEN throughout the pandemic crisis.
Pre-COVID-19, the risk of exposure to any communicable diseases in our clinic was always extremely low. We have always supplied sanitizer and tissues in every room in our office and diligently cleaned and sanitized our offices and therapy materials before and after every patient in our office. Our staff, patients, and caregivers have always washed hands before every session. We have increased our layers of sanitizing and protections against the potential spread of communicable diseases with the use of UV lights to sanitize all other surfaces which cannot be sanitized by traditional methods, and we added HEPA air purifiers with UV light features to sanitize air particles that circulate within each room in our facility.
With ever changing COVID-19 discoveries, recommendations from the CDC, and mandates from our governmental leaders and health officials, our policies and procedures were updated throughout to maintain compliance.
Our current office policies are as follows and are subject to change. We are limiting access within our office to one parent/caregiver and the patient attending the therapy. We take each family's situation on a case by case basis. We encourage open communication regarding special circumstances. We do not want this policy to cause a burden on our families or prevent our patients from being able to access services. We work together to safely accommodate access to our services.
Please note: Upon arriving, please check in at the front window. We will take temperature scans of the patient and one family member attending the session. We will give you the COVID screening form and office check-in form to complete. Please be prepared to make your payment at this time. After checking in at the window, our staff will notify you when our clinic is sanitized and prepared for you to enter. The first stop is the bathroom sink for both the patient and parent/caregiver to wash hands. Any family members, who need to use the restroom while waiting, will need temperature and screening check prior to allowing entry into our clinic.
Face masks, coverings, or face shields are optional in our office. During the evaluation and therapy, the patient will be required to remove their face covering as it is necessary to see their face to provide our service. Office staff and our SLP do not wear face masks or face coverings. If this concerns you, please notify our staff, as we handle each situation on a case by case basis and would be happy to discuss this with you.
In addition to in-office therapy services, we offer Telehealth services on a limited case by case basis for special circumstances (video appointments via FaceTime or Zoom with security measures and password protected sessions). When Telehealth services are deemed necessary to access our services, we allow the patient, parent, or caregiver to determine which format they desire for their session. If you are new to our office, your initial evaluation is required to be in-office for our Speech Language Pathologist to obtain an accurate evaluation, establish a rapport, and determine if Telehealth services are plausible prior to transitioning to Telehealth services.
Please be assured we are doing all that we can to provide a sanitary and safe environment for you and your family when you attend your evaluation or treatment sessions within our office. We screen all staff members daily for symptoms and exposure risks. We assure our clinic is always diligently sanitized before and after ALL patients including frequently touched surfaces, toys, and equipment used during each session. We use air purifiers with UVC lights, which kills bacteria and viruses including COVID-19, inside each unit in every room. Hand sanitizer and tissues are available in all rooms in our clinic.
Please Note:
We ask our patients to call or text to cancel appointments if the patient or a family member has any of the symptoms or exposure potentials identified by the CDC. In this case, we gladly cancel the appointment without a cancellation fee.
We will apply the cancellation fee for cancelled appointments with less than 24 hours notice when symptoms are not present in the patient or a family member AND the patient does not have any identified exposure risk. As always, if there is an emergency that arises and you are unable to hold your appointment, we will attempt to provide you the opportunity to reschedule your appointment within the week in lieu of assessing this fee, as long as you have notified our office prior to your scheduled appointment and do not have a history of repeated last minute cancellations.
If a patient, parent, or caregiver comes to the office with symptoms or posing a health risk to our office, we will cancel that appointment, collect the late cancellation fee, and guide the patient in next steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19 or any other communicable diseases according to the CDC's directions.
We are honored to provide you and your family members with your necessary, medical speech therapy services in our safe, sanitary, medical clinic. We look forward to serving you and your family at our office or within your own home via Telehealth therapy services.