Dear Friends and Patients,
We hope this letter finds you and your family in good health. Our community has been through a lot over the last few months, and all of us are looking forward to resuming at least some of our normal routines! While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your safety.
As you will remember, infection control has always been a top priority for our practice and you may have seen this during your visits to our office. Our infection control processes are made so that when you receive care, it’s both safe and comfortable. We want to tell you about the infection control procedures we follow in our practice to keep patients and staff safe.
Our office follows and exceeds infection control recommendations made by the American Dental Association (ADA), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). We follow the activities of these agencies so that we are up-to-date on any new rulings or guidance that may be issued. We do this to make sure that our infection control procedures are current and adhere to each agencies’ recommendations.
We are also looking locally to our Kansas Health Department, as well as the Cowley County Public Health Department to ensure we are in compliance recommendations fitting for our local area.
You may notice some changes when you visit our office. We made these changes to help protect our patients and staff. These adjustments are ongoing, but some examples now include the following:
● Our team will communicate with you at the time of your appointment to ask some screening questions. We will also take your temperature as part of the screening when you arrive.
● We will ask you to wash your hands in the patient restroom when you enter the office. You will also find hand sanitizer in the treatment rooms to use as needed.
● We ask that you wait in your car until 5 minutes before your appointment, or call our office number when you arrive. You will then be taken directly to a patient room. Patients should come alone, unless accompanied by a caregiver or guardian.
● For now, our reception area will be extremely limited to waiting. It will also no longer offer magazines, children’s toys, etc, since those items are difficult to disinfect throughout the day.
● Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. That might mean that you’re offered fewer options for scheduling your appointment.
● We will do our best to allow greater time between patients to reduce waiting times for you, as well as to reduce the number of patients in the reception area at any one time.
We look forward to seeing you again and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we take to keep you, and every patient, safe in our practice. To make an appointment, please call our office at (620) 442-0320 or visit our website at www.riverstonefamilydental.com.
Thank you for being our patient. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors and friends.
Sincerely,
Dr. Benjamin Pieper and your Riverstone Family Dental Team