Updated COVID-19 MESSAGE – Please Read
Updated Sept 4, 2021
We have made a change to our masking policy.
We will no longer permit patients to use a cloth mask while in our facilities as they are now considered not effective enough (based on recent studies).
If you arrive with a cloth mask we will provide a surgical mask for you to use while with us. Should you arrive with a n95 or kn95 mask you will not be required to change over to a surgical mask. Thank you for your understanding.
We are operating under normal office hours, Monday-Friday 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.
In our TROY location, due to the small parking lot, we must institute the following procedure:
Please do not drop off the patient upon arrival.
Our office will indicate whether or not there is space inside for the patient to wait. Whether the patient is able to wait inside or not, 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:
-
-
- All front doors will no longer be locked.
- Our check-in desks are now open.
- 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 and send the patient back to their car to complete the documents.
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!
-
-
- Patients can wait in the waiting areas if socially distanced chairs are available. If not, the patients will be asked to wait in their cars and will be called or texted when it is time to enter.
– – –
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:
- 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.
- Based on capacity in the waiting areas, you may be asked to wait in your vehicle
to avoid overcrowding the common reception and dilation areas. As explained above, you may be asked to wait in your vehicle until we are ready to start your exam. During this period of waiting, if you have not done so, you will be asked to complete a Patient COVID Questionnaire and Medical History Form.
When you, the patient, are called back to be seen by the technician, your temperature is checked and your hands will be sanitized. 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 allowing only 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.
