In one of our last blog posts, “But How Safe Is It?”, Evelyn discussed using her mom coming in as a patient as the litmus test for when and how we could safely re-open. We got a few replies to this post asking, “I like the sound of this, but what exactly are you all doing to keep the clinics as safe as possible?”
Well, this blog post is your answer. Like pretty much every other small business we have had to don many new hats before we felt safe enough to re-open….we dusted off our microbiology and immunology lab visors, we stuffed our heads into epidemiology hazmat hats, we made ourselves some pretty little HVAC specialist tiaras, and even carefully placed our chemistry wizard’s caps, just to name a few. After putting all our hats and heads together, the following are the safety precautions we came up with.
Breath of Fresh Air
- We currently have multi-action air purifiers (HEPA, UV, Charcoal filters) running on full blast, in every room, all day long.
- When weather and smoke permits, the Laurel / Diamond clinic keeps it’s doors and windows open to let in fresh outdoor air.
- The Grand Lake clinic is pumping fresh outdoor air in through the AC unit above the entrance.
- We have fans going in every room to circulate the fresh air we are bringing in, and move more air through the purifiers. Fans are positioned in such a way as to not blow air across one patient towards another.
- Everyone who enters the clinic must wear a mask that covers their nose and mouth, so this should be keeping most of their cooties contained.
Time and Space
- All chairs are spaced at least 7 feet apart, but most are more than this.
- We have limited the amount of time any patient can spend in the clinic to 45 min. This is partially due to us not having as many chairs in circulation, but we also want to limit any possible exposure time.
- Acupuncturists are keeping our distance while doing your intake. We are sitting closer to your feet than your head while we quickly chat. If we do any head or ear points we are in and out like lightning, and if you would prefer not to have any of these points, we are cool with that too.
- No more hanging out in the lobby. This is a quick in and out situation. Thanks to all our wonderful patients who arrive right on time!
- Bathrooms are for urgent use only.
Can’t Touch This
- We have eliminated all unnecessary touch points in the clinic. You can pretty much walk into the clinic and touch nothing but the chair that you sit in. The few touchpoints that remain are getting wiped down regularly with an EPA approved cleaner.
- Doors are open, pens and payment envelopes are gone, blankets and pillows……sad to say, those are gone too.
- And speaking of chairs, each chair gets a full cleaning between each patient
- At laurel we wipe down the armrests and chair locks and set out a fresh clean sheet between patients
- At grand we wipe down the entire vinyl chair cover with that EPA approved cleaner
Hands, Hands, Fingers, Thumbs (one thumb, one thumb drumming on a drum)
- We have hand sanitizer EVERYWHERE, and your acupuncturists are using it like it’s going out of fashion. Like, literally before we touch or do anything. And patients are required to use it too, right when they walk in the door.
- Hand Washing, yup we are doing that too, whenever we leave the treatment room.
Now, we know that no system is perfect and everyone’s risk tolerance is wildly different, but we feel pretty darn good about the policies and procedures we have in place. Heck, we hang out in the clinic for hours every day, and Evelyn even allows her mom to join us for her weekly treatments.