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 December 22, 2020
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 Thursday’s 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:
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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
- MASKS MUST BE WORN AT ALL TIMES (covering nose, mouth and chin). Patients will be asked to reschedule their appointment if masks are not worn properly or are removed anytime (even just temporarily) while in our offices. If you do not have a mask, please let us know by calling the telephone number posted on the front door of our office to tell us if you will need a face mask to enter the building.
- Depending on circumstances, you may be asked to wait in your vehicle until we are ready to start your exam. In this case, please call the number on the front door upon arrival to let us know you are here. We may have you “check-in” from your car.
- Otherwise, you should plan to enter our office at your scheduled arrival time (please do not come early or late (we may not be able to see you if you are later than 15 minutes), as we work to balance our schedule with our ability to socially distance in our office). If a patient is too early for their assigned arrival time, the patient may be asked to go back out to their car to wait for the appropriate time.
Your first stop is our front door where we have a health screener. You will be given forms, if you did not bring them with you, to fill out to assess your general health and Covid-19 status. We will also have you sanitize your hands. You will then go back to your car. We will call you on your cell to come back in for your appointment; (we will have you sanitize your hands) and at that ime your temperature will be taken.
- Only patients with appointments will be permitted to enter the office. Patients will be identified by way of a sticker, which we will provide to be placed on their clothing. This is very important as we cannot have an overcrowding of patients in the office which may increase the risk to everyone’s safety. If a patient has a special need or requires a caretaker to be present during their appointment, please call the number on the front door and speak to our front desk.
- If the patient arrives by public transportation, call us using the number on the door to tell us you have arrived, and to indicate if you have a mask or not. A mask will be needed prior to entry.
- Cell phone usage in our office is NOT permitted. Once you have sanitized your hands at check-in, cell phones can no longer be used or touched in our office. If we see cell phone usage after your hands have been sanitized, you will be asked to reschedule your appointment, as you have possibly contaminated our office environment.
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.
