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Immediate changes to existing and future appointments

The latest guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend that all non-urgent care be put on hold so healthcare organizations can focus resources on urgent needs and minimize social interactions to slow the spread of the virus. Here is how these guidelines may impact you:

• Now offering in-office baby check and physical exams.
• Televisit appointments are for the following “visits” only Sick, ADHD, Mental Health and Asthma.
• Only one primary caregiver may accompany a patient. Everyone else, including siblings of any age, may not come along. Limiting the number of people who enter our building helps us limit the spread of the virus.
• If you or anyone in your household has symptoms such a new cough, fever or shortness of breath, please call before coming into our office and tell us about your symptoms. We will ask you additional questions and give you instructions for next steps.

At this time, we do not have a timeline for rescheduling visits. As soon as we are able to do so, our scheduling team will call you to find a new reschedule date. We understand that cancelling appointments will have a major impact on the lives of our patients and families and deeply appreciate your patience and understanding while our community is going through this public health emergency.

CLICK HERE TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT NOW

A message to all of our families:

We want to let you know the steps we have taken to ensure the safety of our children and their families during the Corona Virus Pandemic.

It has now been many weeks since we “locked down” our scheduling of patients. Initially we only brought in well babies who needed essential vaccines. We have gradually opened to more of our older children for well visits.

The vast majority of our sick visits have been handled as Telemedicine visits and the sick visits seen in the offices have been done at the end of the day when the well visits have been completed.

We will be expanding our hours to be open all day in each site and we will now have a limited number of evening hours. As we do this we are doing everything possible to make sure that we are maintaining the safest possible environment for our patients and ourselves.

In every office, the morning schedules will begin with only well babies. We want to be able to assure all of the parents that this is a very safe time to bring in our youngest babies.

In the beginning of every afternoon we will see children 3 years old and older for their check ups. We are limiting the number of checkups in order to create a very efficient way of having families come in and leave with minimal amounts of contact.

Sick visits will continue to be largely done by telemedicine but the ones who are brought into the offices will be at the end of the afternoon to minimize overlap with the well visit.

We will begin having a limited number of evening visits. For now this will be limited to only well visits.

We want to assure everyone that we are being extremely conscientious in protecting everyone involved. We “locked down” earlier and harder than almost any primary care practice and we are gradually reopening very slowly and carefully. We want to assure you that respect for and protection of your child’s health is our highest priority.

We have all of our staff to thank for this and we are all very proud to be part of this team. We will continue to make changes as the information on the pandemic unfolds while maintaining our priority of providing the safest possible environment.

CMG

Immediate changes to existing and future appointments

The latest guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend that all non-urgent care be put on hold so healthcare organizations can focus resources on urgent needs and minimize social interactions to slow the spread of the virus. Here is how these guidelines may impact you:

• Now offering in-office baby check and physical exams.
• Televisit appointments are for the following “visits” only Sick, ADHD, Mental Health and Asthma.
• Only one primary caregiver may accompany a patient. Everyone else, including siblings of any age, may not come along. Limiting the number of people who enter our building helps us limit the spread of the virus.
• If you or anyone in your household has symptoms such a new cough, fever or shortness of breath, please call before coming into our office and tell us about your symptoms. We will ask you additional questions and give you instructions for next steps.

At this time, we do not have a timeline for rescheduling visits. As soon as we are able to do so, our scheduling team will call you to find a new reschedule date. We understand that cancelling appointments will have a major impact on the lives of our patients and families and deeply appreciate your patience and understanding while our community is going through this public health emergency.

CLICK HERE TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT NOW

The Children’s Medical Group has been working 24-7 to continue to be able to provide services to our patients. With this in mind, we will begin to offer Telemedicine consultations starting March 23, 2020.

Although this will be accessible through a cell phone, the quality is much better by accessing the patient portal through a computer.

Instructions for accessing your patient portal account and telemedicine are available by clicking here. (These instructions can be found under the “For Parents” tab).

If your child is 18 years of age or older, they will need to access the portal.

All of us at CMG are aware of the concerns about the Coronavirus outbreak and want to ensure our patients that we are taking precautions within our offices.

Currently the best course of action, if your child is showing symptoms of a cold or virus, is to remain home and minimize exposure to other individuals.  If you child is progressively getting more sick, please call our office for an appointment to be seen.

In an effort to provide a safe office environment for all our patients, we will begin seeing our well visits only in the am from 9am to 12noon. These appointments will be limited to newborn and infant check-up for vaccines.  We will postponing all well visits and physical exams for older children until to risk to exposure is drastically reduced.  These appointments will be made available as usual when the crisis has passed.

We will accommodate any sick visits in the afternoon and evenings beginning at 1:00pm.

As with many of the community private practices, we are unable to conduct any testing for the Coronavirus in our office.

We hope you are healthy and safe.

As all of you have heard, Coronavirus (COVID-19) is starting to show community spread. We are sure to see cases in Dutchess County. The good news is that children seem to be less affected by this illness. It is unclear why, but even if children are infected with COVID-19, they will not likely have severe symptoms from it.

While we can’t predict how widespread the pandemic will become, there is a lot we CAN do to protect ourselves.

Prevent and minimize the spread of viruses:

• Wash Hands frequently and vigorously. The recommendation is to lather with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. This is longer than most of us spend washing. Pick a favorite song and sing the first verse and/or chorus to keep time. (My kids always loved singing the Wheels on The Bus). You can also use hand sanitizer, however, as these seem to be sold out everywhere, please remember good old-fashioned soap & water work perfectly fine.
• Teach and remind your children to cough or sneeze into an elbow or tissue.
• Avoid touching hands to face. (Easier said than done, especially for children. Hence frequent hand washing!)
• Wash children’s toys and surfaces regularly.
• Children and adults should remain home if they are sick. This includes school, work, and social or sporting activities.

Keep your body strong and decrease stress:

• Get plenty of sleep.
• Exercise daily. Get outside. Get fresh air. Go for a hike, get out on your bikes, go to the park, go to the rail trail. This can help our bodies and decrease stress.
• Eat a well-balanced diet. A diet rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, seeds and proteins will provide the nutrients you and your child need to maintain a healthy immune system.
• Try to decrease your consumption of news and social media and decrease your children’s exposure to these scary stories.

FAQs

Can the Children’s Medical Group test for COVID-19?

We do not currently have the ability to test for COVID-19. Currently, only the CDC and specific approved state labs can perform this test. The current recommendations are to only test people who have symptoms (fever, cough, cold, sore throat) and have traveled to affected countries (China, Italy, Iran, Japan, South Korea) OR have been in contact with someone who has lab-confirmed COVID-19.

If you feel that your child falls into this category, please call our office so we can help determine the appropriate next steps.

How do I know if I have COVID-19?

The symptoms of COVID-19 are similar to the symptoms of the common cold and the Flu. (fever, cough, runny nose, sore throat). If you have these symptoms and have traveled within the last 2 weeks OR been in contact with someone with COVID-19 you should call our office so we can help determine the appropriate next steps.

What should I do if I think my child has COVID-19?

It is likely that COVID-19 will reach our community. The majority of people will feel like they have the common cold or have no symptoms at all. Currently, the risk for serious illness in children from COVID-19 is extremely low, in fact of the people diagnosed with COVID-19 worldwide, almost none were children. Please call our office if you think your child has COVID-19 so we can help determine the appropriate next steps.

For the most up to date information, please see the following websites:

NYS Department of Health
CDC
Dutchess County Department of Health