03/16/2020
Dear Radiation Oncology family member,
The COVID outbreak in our state is at the forefront of our minds. We at the Veterinary CyberKnife Cancer Center and Vet Imaging Partners are monitoring the situation day by day. As healthcare professionals, we intend to continue treating your loved ones -- however, in order to stay open and effectively treat our patients, our doctors and staff need to stay healthy themselves. Therefore, effective immediately, we will be adopting a modified NC State University protocol and taking the following precautions in order to protect you, your pet, and our staff. As part of these precautions, we will be communicating much more by telephone than normal, so we ask for your patience as the call volume has already substantially increased. Please know that COVID has not been shown to infect domestic animals, but investigations are ongoing.
* When you arrive for your appointment, please stay in your car and, if possible, text us using the main cell phone linked to your pet’s account. You can respond to the text message we sent you to confirm your appointment; this number will link directly to your pet’s account and will alert us that you have arrived without having to tie up a receptionist or having you wait on hold. If you are unable to text us from the phone number we use to contact you, please call the reception team at 610-296-2099 and let them know that you are in the parking lot. If you cannot get through, please come to the front doors and wait for a team member to see you and come out to get your pet. If it is raining, you may either wait in your car or open the first set of doors to wait in the vestibule. We are asking that you do not wait in the lobby at this point in time.
* Please try to limit direct and indirect contact between yourself and the staff member to limit both your and our potential exposure to COVID-19. The team member will bring your pet into the hospital. We ask that you please wait in your car.
* After your appointment is complete, the Radiation Oncology team will have reception call your cell phone so that you can pick your pet up. Either a nurse or doctor will bring your pet outside to you.
* For clients who have rechecks scheduled, if they are "routine", they may be pushed back for 2-4 weeks. If you would prefer to switch your appointment to a phone consult instead of coming to the hospital in person, we are happy to convert your appointment to a discussion over the phone. You can also send pictures of your pet's radiation side effects (if they are visible) to radonc@hopevs.com
* If you have any symptoms that could be early stages of COVID-19, please contact us to reschedule your appointment. There will be no cancellation fees for anybody who is worried that they may have COVID-19 as we greatly appreciate that you are trying to decrease the risk of spreading the illness to others.
Thank you for helping us practice social distancing to help decrease the spread of COVID-19. We all need to work together not only for your pets’ health but also to protect the health of our clients and staff. We hope that, in doing so, we can get through this crisis as quickly and safely as possible. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out the Radiation Oncology team at 610-296-2099 (main hospital) or 844-738-2927 (CyberKnife cancer center) or radonc@hopevs.com. Again, we appreciate your understanding as we take every precaution to keep our work environment safe for staff, clients, and patients.
Our sincerest thanks,
The Doctors and staff of VC3
