Veterinary Wellness Partners COVID-19 Plan May 18th, 2020

Curbside Care

With the continuing COVID-19 situation across the country, many veterinary clinics continue to provide curbside care to their clients and patients.  Veterinary Wellness Partners, including our four clinics, are continuing with this same curbside care for the foreseeable short-term future.  

What is Curbside Care?

Curbside care is the term used to describe the process that we use to accommodate the social distancing guidelines by having clients wait in the parking lot. We still perform a complete examination and discuss findings and recommendations with each client. 

How does curbside care work?

Upon arrival at one of our clinics, clients are to call the front desk.  We ask that all dogs are on leashes and all cats are in carriers, as they could easily get away if not properly placed in a carrier.  We also request that clients wear a mask while interacting with our staff.  Once the front offices checks your pet in, a medical team member will come out to the vehicle to bring your pet into the clinic.   A valid cellphone number will be obtained, so as to allow for communication from the veterinary staff to the clients.  A history will be taken either over the phone or discussed at the vehicle.  

Once your pet has been escorted into the clinic, he/ she will be weighed and then will have a complete physical examination.  Following the physical examination, you will be called by the attending veterinarian to discuss our findings, as well as to go over our suggested treatment plan.   

At the end of the follow-up phone calls, clients will be placed on hold.  This will allow the front office staff to discuss payment.  A check can be written and given to the team member that returns your pet to the car, or a credit card number can be obtained over the phone.

How long will curbside care last?

We do not know the end date to this system at this time.  We are monitoring the COVID-19 situation and recommendations given by the federal government, as well as the government of the state of Ohio.  In addition, we take the safety and concern of our staff into consideration.  Our staff members are our greatest aspect of our clinics and we need them to be comfortable and relaxed as we proceed going forward.  We have had some client feedback and requests for clients to be allowed into the clinics.  We will continue to listen to feedback.  Some of the challenges of the social distancing protocols centers around the limited spacing in the examination rooms.   With many examination rooms being too small to allow the proper 6 feet of distancing with three to four people in the rooms (one client, the doctor, and a support staff are general required for each examination).

Veterinary Wellness Partners want to thank everybody for their understanding.  We have had 100% compliance with clients.  There have been very few client complaints and a lot of compliments as to how this process is going.  We continue to be thankful to be able to provide the best care to our patients and their families!