07/10/2020
Everyone,
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 our normal habits and routines. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your safety.
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 current infection control recommendations made by the American Dental Association (ADA), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Pa Department of Health (DOH). 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 have also instituted engineering controls to create isolated Negative Pressure Operatories and added UV Disinfection to our Air Control Systems which also use Ionized Hydro-Peroxide, and we utilize Hypochlorous Acid Fogging to aid in disinfection of office areas in order to make our facility even safer.
You may see some changes when it is time for your next appointment. We made these changes to help protect our patients and staff. For example:
• Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask screening questions. You’ll be asked those same questions again when you are in the office and your temperature will be taken.
• We have hand sanitizer that we will ask you to use when you enter the office. You will also find some in the reception area and other places in the office for you to use as needed.
• You may see that our waiting room will no longer offer magazines, children’s toys and so forth, since those items are difficult to clean and disinfect.
• 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 will utilize the parking lot as a “waiting room” and inform you when your personal room is ready.
• Staff will be wearing additional Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and we require patients to wear masks when entering and leaving their private treatment rooms.
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, friend and family member safe in our practice. To make an appointment, please call or text our office at 717-755-3061 or visit our website at DePasqualeDental.com.
Sincerely,
Dr. Joe DePasquale and Brenda, Sharon, Shelby, Ashley and Morgan.
