It’s been almost a year since we last posted on this
blog site. Things had gotten really
busy, we moved to video and live events on Facebook as well as an upgraded e
mail program to communicate with our clients and area pet owners. So, the blog sort of fell off the radar. But,
the world has changed dramatically in the past month and I thought that this
would be a good time to resurrect the blog.
Not so much as a source of information, Facebook and our e mail outreach
are still the best channels for that. Rather, as a way for us to give our
clients insight as to what is going on behind the doors and personal
protection equipment here at Crawford Dog and Cat Hospital.
So, how did we get to where we are today, sitting here in
the office, face mask and gowns in place, isolated from each other and our
clients.
At the end of January, I sold the practice to a
corporation. I hadn't planned to to sell and
I don’t intend to retire, I’m working full time here at Crawford as a clinical
veterinarian, free from the stresses of finance and management. Indeed, due to this crisis,
there have been very few changes here.
Everyone that worked here was offered their same position with the new
company and all but one stayed. The two
biggest changes are things that you might not have noticed as a pet owner. The first is that there are deep corporate
pockets that have allowed us to stay open and pay the staff while the economy
crumbles around us. Rather than scrambling
to survive, we have seen enhanced benefits for employees that have covid
related problems, either of their own or their immediate families. We have been lucky that none of our employees
have been ill to date. Several have had
family members fall ill, so far, all are doing OK although there have been some
rough patches.
The second benefit that we have seen is that we have the support
of a large management team. They offer
us logistical support as well as improved access to a vast supply chain,
helping us to maintain medications and supplies so that Crawford can continue
to provide essential veterinary services to the pets in our community.
As we moved through February, it became apparent that the
Covid 19 virus was going to pose a greater threat to us than the experts had led us to believe. We worked as a team with our
new management and in early March, the
medical staff, Drs. Wu, Waters, and Myself, decided that we had to come up with
new procedures so that we could remain safe.
Several staff members elected to take a family medical leave made
available to them by our new employer.
The rest of us divided into two teams, each headed by a doctor (Dr. Wu
is currently home taking care of her children. She is consulting remotely on
cases and we all eagerly await her return).
The teams are isolated, working every other day. That way, if one team is exposed to the
corona virus, we won’t have to close the hospital, just rotate that team out
for their isolation. This is a situation
that happened this week where one of the team members who had no clinical signs
but was exposed to someone that is sick, tested positive for covid19. That team member had been self-isolating for
almost two weeks so the team only lost one day (today) which the other team
covered. The hospital did not have to
close. We have also put Dr. Sturtz on a
team and she is seeing her cat patients every other Saturday.
We were very proactive with this team approach and our
social distancing policies. We are
currently doing curbside check in. For
now, clients are checking in by phone from their cars when they arrive. We are sending a staff member out in
appropriate protective gear to bring the pet into the hospital for examination
and treatment while the owner waits outside.
Communication is by telephone and video chat and the pet is returned to
the family in the car when we are done.
While not ideal, we feel that this offers us the best option for safety
while allowing us to treat our patients.
The procedure has been well accepted by owners, pets, and our upper
management who have held our initiative out as an example to other practices in
the New York Metropolitan area market.
So that is how we got to where we are. I intend to continue with our weekly live
Facebook sessions. Join me and Bella as
we try to bring some understanding to our community as new information becomes
available. I also want to use this blog
as a journal, to post regularly so that you can see what we are up to and how
we are adjusting to our new reality. I’ll share what we’re doing, how we’re
doing and who we’re doing it with. The
pets that we have been here to help have ranged from a seeing eye dog
yesterday, to older pets with multiple health issues. So check back and keep up. I know we all have some time to read. Comments on the blog page are welcome as are
questions on Facebook.
Stay safe. Be nice. Wash your hands and don’t touch your
face.
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