Updated COVID-19 MESSAGE – Please Read
Ophthalmic Consultants of the Capital Region is committed to keeping our patients and staff safe while providing quality care!
We are operating under normal office hours, M-F from 8 am until 5 pm.
We are providing all types of eye care appointments from routine and follow-up care to urgent and emergent care. Do not leave or drop off the patient immediately, all patients will call the number posted on the front door upon arrival and wait instructions for entering the building.
Please see special directions for our TROY location below…
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NEW INFORMATION as of January 18, 2021
With the surge in Covid-19 cases our procedures are modified to adapt to the challenges of keeping one another safe:
In our TROY location, due to the parking lot being small we must institute the following procedure:
Again, do not drop off the patient upon arrival. Instead, call the Troy number (518) 274-3123. If the lot is full, we ask that you go to a Public Street Parking area on 8th street and wait there after calling in. Directions are: Turn left on Jacob out of our lot and go up to 8th Street, (Street above Kennedy Towers). Public Street Parking is available on the left and right off Jacob on 8th. Only restricted parking is Thursdays 9:00am to Noon.
Do not have your passenger, (our patient) walk from 8th St. If you, the patient, are arriving alone and there are no parking spaces available when we call you to come in, please let our office know by telephone and we will direct you as to how to proceed.
When directed by telephone bring the patient to our front door, drop off the patient and then you can return to wait in the same off-site parking area.
You will be called by the patient when they are ready to be picked up at our Main Entrance.
General Procedures for all locations:
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- All front doors will be locked again and patients will need to call the phone number posted on the front door upon arrival.
- We will require each patient to review and sign the patient Covid Questionnaire along with the Health Screener prior to being admitted.
- If you received the Questionnaire and Screener by mail — or you printed both off our website (here) please complete the forms immediately prior to your appointment.
- If you do not arrive with the documents we will provide them to you.
IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO ANSWER ALL THE COVID AND HEALTH SCREENING QUESTIONS ACCURATELY — WE MUST ALL PROTECT ONE ANOTHER. IF YOU HAVE OR THINK YOU HAVE OR HAD EVEN ONE SYMPTOM — PLEASE INFORM US AND WE WILL RESCHEDULE YOU FOR A FUTURE APPOINTMENT ONCE YOU ARE SYMPTOM FREE AND ENOUGH TIME HAS PASSED TO HELP ASSURE YOU ARE COVID SAFE!
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Telehealth appointments are available as a means of flexible, on-demand, home-based, care. You may contact our office at 518-438-5273 to schedule an appointment and for answers to any questions about what to expect during your first telehealth visit. You may call us 24/7 and one of our doctors will be available to return your call.
Eye surgery is being performed at our surgery center, the Albany Regional Eye Surgery Center (ARESC). To learn more about eye surgery safety, follow this link Surgery Safety
Optical Services are fully open at each of our offices providing all services, everything from minor repairs to contact lens orders to filling new prescriptions for eyewear.
Your Appointment – What to Expect
IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER:
DO NOT LEAVE YOUR CAR UNTIL YOU HAVE CALLED THE OFFICE INFORMING THE PRACTICE OF YOUR ARRIVAL AND HAVE RECEIVED COMPLETE INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE MEDICAL RECEPTIONIST ABOUT YOUR VISIT.
- Masks must be worn at all times (covering nose, mouth and chin).
Patients will be asked to reschedule their appointment if they do not wear their mask properly or continuously (even if only removed for a short time) while in our offices.
- No cell phone usage!
Once you have sanitized your hands at check-in, cell phones, books, tablets i.e., hand held electronic devices can no longer be used or touched in our office. This helps us avoid contamination in our common areas and sterile areas of the office. If we see cell phone usage or other electronic devices after your hands have been sanitized, you will be asked to reschedule your appointment, as you have possibly contaminated our office environment.
- You want to expect to wait in your vehicle.
In an abundance of caution during this period of rising positive COVID cases, we need to make every effort to avoid overcrowding our common reception and dilation areas. You most likely will be asked to wait in your vehicle until we are ready to start your exam. During this period of waiting you will be asked to complete a Patient COVID Questionnaire and Medical History Form. The completion of these forms will shorten the time you need to spend with a support staff member during your preparation for the doctor.
When called to enter the practice from your car, you will hand in your forms to the Health Screener, have your temperature checked and will sanitize your hands. Under some circumstances, you may be asked to spend your dilation period in your car as well. You will be asked to sanitize your hands upon re-entering the building.***We are only allowing patients in our offices at this time. Patients will be identified by way of a sticker, which we will provide to be placed on their clothing. Visitors will be asked to wait in their vehicles.
Additional steps we are taking to keep people safe
- We are limiting the number of daily appointments to honor social distancing.
- All the desk and counter spaces have the addition of plastic sneeze shields.
- All employees wear face masks as do patients.
- All slit lamps in examination rooms have medical plastic shields between the patient and the doctor/technician.
- Each lane and patient or employee “touch area” is sanitized after each patient encounter.
- Stand-alone HEPA air filters have been added to interior areas to enhance ventilation.
Surgery Center Safety Measures
- Prior to a surgical procedure, the patient is tested for COVID-19. No one with COVID-19 has ever been admitted to the building.
- Only the patient is admitted to the surgical center. Anyone accompanying the patient needs to wait outside the building.
- Everyone wears a mask.
- Equipment is cleaned according to the most current protocols.
- Appropriate social distancing is maintained.
- Temperature checking of all personnel entering the building.
