To Our Valued Patients:
We hope this letter finds you and your family in good health.
We have been fully operational and back to our normal business hours as of Monday, May 18.
Our community has been through a lot over the last several 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 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.
You may see some changes when it is time for your next appointment. We made these changes to help protect our patients and staff when going to the dentist during Covid.
For example:
- We have installed a dedicated negative pressure system in each operatory which exhausts airflow away from patients and staff.
- We have added industrial grade UV air purifiers to our existing HEPA HVAC systems which will filter 99.9999% of airborne pathogens.
- We have a Sterisil water filtration system equipped with a UV Light.
- Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask for some screening questions. You’ll be asked those same questions again when you are in the office.
- “Waiting Room in Your Car”, where you will call us upon arrival and wait for us to call you in.
- We ask that patients enter the office unaccompanied, if possible. For those patients who need a guardian to accompany them, we ask that this be limited to a single-family member.
- When entering our office you will be expected to wear a mask or face covering.
- 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.
- Non-contact thermometers will be used to take temperatures of all staff and patients as they enter our office.
- 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.
Thank-You
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 815-725-5991 or fill out our online form.
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. Robert Funk, Dr. Henry Vicioso, Dr. Gina Bruck
