COVID-19 Information

Dear Families,

We want you to know that we are here for you during this COVID-19 pandemic. The health and safety of our patients, providers, and staff is our top priority. Dr Julie continue to closely follow and adapt the office procedures to serve you and keep us all safe.

For Patients with Upcoming Well Child Appointments:

• We are currently seeing all well check appointments. We are seeing our well check appointments using “well” rooms where no sick patients have been, as always. If you have an upcoming well check appointment or are due for a check up, please connect with our office via your patient portal or via phone at 682-518-8111
• If your child has any sign of illness, please let us know prior to your appointment. We are rescheduling well checks with any cough, cold symptoms or fever. If you are unsure if you need to reschedule, please call the office to discuss with the nurse.
• Please warn your children that the provider will be wearing a mask during their visit. This is per the CDC recommendations.
• Everyone that comes into the office will be asked to wear a mask for the duration of the visit. This helps prevent the spread of respiratory droplets. We don’t expect that smaller children under the age of 2 will be able to keep a mask on. We hope to drop this requirement soon, but will continue to monitor the CDC recommendations.
• We are asking you to fill out all paperwork prior to coming to your appointment to help us move things along efficiently. You should receive an email with the paperwork or a link to the paperwork several days prior to your appointment. If you have not received this, please call the office.
• When you arrive to the office, please check in via the link sent to your phone. Our staff will instruct you from there. We are asking that all sick patients wait in their car instead of our waiting room and will use a separate entrance. Well visit patients will be allowed to wait in the waiting room if they wish and an appropriately spaced area is available.

For Patients with Illness:

• We offer both in person and televisit services for sick patients.
• If it is determined during your televisit that testing needs to be done, we will ask you to come directly to the office, wait in your car, and call to let us know you are here. Our office staff will come to the car to do the testing.
• If it is determined that your child needs to be evaluated in the office or if you prefer them being seen in the office, we ask that you please come with a mask for parent and child. If you do not have one, a washable cloth mask will be provided. On arrival to the office, please text the link sent to your phone to let us know you are here. Staff will instruct you to walk into our back entrance and directly into our “sick” rooms. These rooms are being thoroughly cleaned between each patient. We have always done this but are doing it with even more extreme care currently. We will also ask you leave out of the back door, so no respiratory droplet exposure will be in the office where our well kids are being seen.
• Please warn your children that the provider may be wearing a somewhat scary looking suit (mask, face shield, gown and gloves) during the evaluation. This is for our provider’s protection and per the CDC recommendations.
• If you or your child are experiencing any of the following symptoms, you are considered at risk: fever, fatigue, cough, shortness of breath, chills, sudden loss of smell or taste.
• We have rapid COVID tests available in the office with results in less than 20 minutes. We can also send out PCR COVID tests and usually receive results within 2 days.

For Our Higher Risk Patients:

• Dr Julie has many patients with special healthcare needs. As the virus continues to spread, we want to protect and safeguard our most vulnerable patients. Please call us for any questions you may have.

Potential Disruptions to Our Regular Schedule:

• Depending on community trends with COVID-19, our office will continue to make changes to best serve you and keep our children safe

How is our staff being trained?

• Our staff has been trained in infection control practices, standard precautions, and hand hygiene. Honestly, this is daily standard in pediatrics, but we are even more diligent and cannot stress this enough.
• We are practicing safe hand hygiene and proper environmental cleaning techniques.

How is Dr Julie monitoring the situation?

• Dr Julie has been reading constantly to stay up to date. She has been in constant communication with pediatricians across the country who are formulating best practices for this changing situation. She is also keeping up with and following the recommendations of the CDC, WHO, state and local health departments.

What can You do?

Get vaccinated!!!

• Protect yourself and our community by getting yourself vaccinated!!
• If your child is eligible for a vaccine, please get him/her vaccinated. Call the office if you have any concerns or questions about the vaccine.

Prevention and Social Distancing!!!

• We encourage you to follow guidance from CDC and the WHO and educate yourself as much as you can. We think this pandemic should be taken very seriously.
• Unless your children are fully vaccinated, keep playdates outside whenever possible.
• If anyone at home is sick, try to keep them separate from others in your family as much as possible and keep them home for 10 days from the start of illness unless you have a negative COVID test.

Practice Healthy Habits:

• Sleep at least 8 hours a night (more for kids!), eat healthy fresh foods and drink lots of water.
• Taking care of yourself by decreasing stress will ultimately boost your immunity. Here are some suggestions to help you and your children deal with the anxiety:
  • Spend time getting outdoors; play in the yard, and go on walks.
  • Spend time with family reading, playing board games, listening to music, singing and laughing.
  • Spend time with your pets. (Mine have loved having us all at home this past year!)
  • Practice mindfulness, be hopeful and positive. Consider trying meditation with an app like Headspace, Calm or Insight Timer.
• Kindness, caring and empathy will go a long way as we all deal with this crisis. Remember to model this for your children. It will help make your children more resilient in the future.

We will be updating this information as new details become available. If you have questions or concerns about this information, please call.

Please follow our Instagram page drjuliemansfield or Facebook page Dr. Julie for updates.

Sending out lots of love and air hugs!

Warmly,
Dr. Julie and staff