Questions about COVID-19

Dear Families and Patients of Rosemary Heights Dental,

We are now open and ready to welcome our patients back!  As always, the health and safety of our patients, employees and community continue to be our top priority so that we can provide you with the safest dental care that meets the guidelines set out by the College of Dental Surgeons of BC, the Provincial Health Officer and WorkSafeBC.

To ensure a smooth and safe re-opening, we are easing into things with a slow and measured approach assessing and treating emergency and urgent dental matters first.

Don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten about your previously scheduled appointment. Now that we are open, we are contacting all patients with previously scheduled appointments to reschedule your appointment or confirm a future appointment. In order to comply with physical distancing measures, we have had to reconfigure our entire work schedule. It is a monumental task, but our reception team is up to it. We ask for your understanding as we begin our operations again under these new policies and procedures.

Below is a list of changes that you can expect at your next appointment to ensure we limit the number of people in the office at one time and protect your health and safety:

  • Appointments will be staggered to allow for physical distancing between patients. Our receptionists will continue to try to accommodate your specific needs as best as we can.
  • Our office will contact you 24-hours before your appointment to review your current health.
  • Upon arrival for your appointment, we ask that you stay in your car and call/text us to let us know you are onsite. When we are ready for you, we will call/text you to come up.
  • When you enter the office, we will again review your current health, as well as take your temperature and have you sign a COVID-19 acknowledgement form. We will also ask you to sanitize your hands before we escort you to your treatment room. Note: If your temperature is above 38 degrees, we will ask you to reschedule your appointment to a later date.
  • We ask that you do your best to arrive at your scheduled time and do not bring any friends or family members with you (exceptions will be made for one parent with a young child or any others needing assistance).
  • After your treatment is complete, your dental care provider will walk you to the reception desk to process your dental coverage and/or payment. We will only be accepting debit or credit (sorry, no cash).
  • While we normally love to chat and catch up, we need to focus all of our efforts on managing your appointment efficiently following our new guidelines and procedures. As such, we ask that patients do not linger before or after their appointment.

Additionally, we want to inform you of the following precautions we are taking to ensure we keep you safe:

  • Every staff member will have their health reviewed and temperature checked at the start of every day to ensure that we are fit to work.
  • Every patient will have their general health and any COVID-19 symptoms screened in advance of their appointment and if any symptoms are present, we will ask you to reschedule your appointment.
  • In addition to our usual masks and gloves, all staff will be provided with extra personal protective equipment including gowns and face shields.
  • New clear plexiglass “sneeze guards” have been installed at our reception desk for all of our protection.
  • Between patient visits, we will continue to clean, disinfect and sterilize rooms, instruments and all surfaces maintaining our already high infection control standards in our treatment rooms.
  • In the reception/waiting area, we will continually disinfect all surfaces and provide hand sanitizer to both staff and patients. All magazines, children’s toys and items that are difficult to clean and disinfect have been removed.
  • New medical-grade HEPA “Surgical Clean Air” filtration systems are being installed throughout the office to improve air quality and our existing HVAC system has been optimized to increase air flow and exchange.

Unfortunately all of these changes necessary to maintain a safe environment for both patients and our team come with increased costs.  As a result, we will be charging a small additional fee to offset these expenses.  Thank you for your understanding.

We would love to talk to you! If you have any questions about the new policies or booking procedures, please do not hesitate to call our office at 604 542-7874.

Our community has been through a lot over the last few months and we look forward to seeing you once again! We want you to know that while we may look a bit different underneath all of our protective gear, we are still the same great team that is committed to your health, safety and well-being.

We deeply value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming everyone back — our patients, our neighbours and our friends.

Sincerely,

Heather, Pat and Fanny