A Message From Kleinpeter Physical Therapy Regarding COVID-19
As the concerns about the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) intensify, we thought it would be helpful to share what Kleinpeter Physical Therapy is or has been doing to make your therapy appointment as safe as possible.
1. Service You Can Trust
The first step we took was to educate our workforce using validated resources such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), and the US Department of Health.
2. Limiting Exposure
The second step we took was to evaluate our ability to continue to provide services without increasing exposure risks to you, to our visitors and staff. As part of that process, we made a list of questions that we will ask to ascertain the exposure risk. These are the questions:
- Have you traveled to China, South Korea, Iran, Italy or Japan or any other country with high COVID-19 incidents within the past 30 days?
- Have you had any contact with anyone diagnosed with COVID-19, with any person(s) under investigation for COVID-19 or anyone with flu-like symptoms (fever, cough, and shortness of breath)? The exposure could be to spouses, partners, family members, friends, work colleagues, social group members, fellow students, church members or any other person(s) or groups where there could have personal contact (within 6 feet).
- Have you had any worrisome symptoms: fever, cough or shortness of breath in the past 14 days? If positive for symptoms, we are asking you, the patient, to contact your physician for guidance and written permission to attend therapy. If a written permission note is not possible, we will ask you, the patient, to attest to your symptomology or lack of it. We are also asking all patients to call the clinic prior to arriving if they have any flu/virus-like symptoms.
3. Sanitary Facility
The third step we took was to intensify our housekeeping & infection control procedures to assure that we have minimized contact with anything or areas that could harbor harmful bacteria or viruses. In doing so we are asking all individuals who enter our clinic to:
- To complete the Patient Coronavisus-19 Questionnaire per visit or to confirm ‘no changes’ since the completion of the Questionnaire
- Apply our hand-sanitizer prior to completing paperwork, signing-in for the appointment, taking a seat in our reception area or starting treatment
- Practice good hand hygiene (frequent handwashing) as well as good cough and sneeze etiquette (cover mouth with tissue when coughing or sneezing and deposit the tissue in a hands-free trash can or cover his/her mouth with his/her elbow if tissues are not immediately available).
- Apply our hand-sanitizer when departing the clinic
- Advise care-givers to wait in their car so our reception area is less congested
4. Safe Distancing
The fourth step we are taking is to reconfigure our gym and reception areas to permit greater physical separation of patients.
5. Scheduling Accomodations
The fifth step we are taking is to adapt our schedule to accommodate our immunologically compromised patients including but not limited to the frail or elderly.
6. Education
The final step we are taking is to continue to educate our workforce and our patient community regarding the COVID-19. We will consistently employ measures to minimize the spread of COVID-19 according to the CDC (and other credible authorities) recommendations and will keep you informed of any changes in protocols.
