Coronavirus (Covid-19) Update (revised 3-20-20):
Like all of you, we are concerned about the Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak and minimizing its spread. Our staff are all following CDC guidelines regarding disinfection of our facility and regular hand washing throughout the day.
Before we get into the policies, let me assure you that we remain open and fully functional to attend to your pets medical needs.
We are taking the following additional measure to reduce the risk of exposure for our staff and our clients:
SELF-MONITORING:
All of our staff are self-monitoring for signs of illness. They are instructed to remain at home if they have any of the following:
- Fever
- Coughing
- Malaise
- Exposure to someone with any of these symptoms in their household.
We ask that all of our clients, do the same monitoring and refrain from bringing in your pet if you are ill. If your pet needs to be seen, please ask a friend who is not in close contact with you to bring in your pet. The doctor will examine the pet and call you with a treatment plan.
Curbside Service:
In keeping with the California State guidelines to help reduce the spread of contagion while doing our best to keep you, your pets and our staff as safe as possible we are adding additional measures to our contagion prevention program:
- To minimize face to face transmission and potential contamination of the hospital, we will ask you to remain in your car or outside the premises and call our front desk for further instructions. We will check you in and call you when we are ready to see your pet
- Once we are ready to see you, a staff member will come out and take your pet. Please note that all cats, birds and pocket pets must be in a carrier in order to be brought into the hospital. We will use our leashes to bring dogs in and ask that you remove your leashes, collars and harnesses to reduce the risk of contamination. Our staff will be wearing personal protection equipement (gloves masks etc) please do not let that alarm you, it is for everyone’s safety.
- You may wait in your car until the doctor has evaluated your pet or you may go home. The doctor will call you and discuss a treatment plan and give you and estimate.
- If you agree to the treatment plan, the reception staff will have you sign any necessary paperwork digitally and take a deposit from you over the phone.
- Prior to your exam, we will email you any forms that will be needed to complete the exam. We request that you fill these in electronically and send them back to us via email BEFORE your appointment. The forms will include instruction on how to fill out the form on your phone or tablet.
Feel free to call our office if you need additional help. - We will attempt to complete all financial transactions using credit cards over the phone, again to reduce face to face encounters.
- We have the ability to store your credit cards on an encrypted server so that you can avoid having to give the numbers for each transaction. Stored credit cards can not be seen by any of our personnel, but can be used to pay for your services. We encourage you to allow the storage of your credit card at the time of making the appointment to make future transactions simple. Your card will never be charged without your express consent.
- We ask that you call in advance for any drug or food purchases. . We may not be able to fill prescriptions while you wait.
Once you have made the refill request, our staff will contact you once the prescription(s) have been filled. They will take payment from you over the phone and when you arrive, a staff member will bring the drugs out to you. - Emergencies will be given priority as usual, however, you must still call the front desk to make certain we can accommodate your pet.
- If you are concerned about end of life issues with your pet, please call the office to make arrangements.With all transactions being done over the phone, we can expect that the phones may be busy at times. Feel free to do any of the following to contact us in those circumstances:
- Leave a voicemail message and the staff will get back to you as soon as possible.
- Text us at 909-989-3575 and we will respond in kind,
- E-mail us at arphweb@altaranchopet.com
Thank you for cooperating with us in these protocols. Hopefully these measures will allow us to continue to serve you and your pets throughout this ordeal.
Sincerely,
Drs. Reid Shufer and Kathy Henderson
And the Staff of Alta Rancho Pet & Bird Hospital
MORE INFO:
Here is a link to Frequently Asked Questions regarding Covid-19 and pets. As far as we know, the virus is not transmitted by dogs and cats to people.
Many people are aware that both dogs and cats do have corona virus pathogens, which can make them ill. These coronavirus are species-specific and only affects these species.
As more information becomes available, we will keep you posted.