Can You See Your Osteopath during the Coronavirus Pandemic?

UPDATE Mon 23/03
We have expanded our request not to attend your appointment if you or anyone you live with have any respiratory symptoms, even if you do not have a fever.

We are now also offering telehealth sessions, that is, consultations over video chat. This will enable us to assess you, and give you advice, without vulnerable people being exposed by leaving the house.
Please consult with your health fund to see if rebates are available for telehealth services.
Video chat sessions will be charged at $50/session. This represents 50% off a standard treatment to keep costs as low as possible in these uncertain times.

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Under the current circumstances, people are obviously a bit worried, and may be wondering whether or not they should be visiting their osteopath.

This update outlines the actions we are taking to protect clients and osteopaths at  from exposure to infection with the COVID-19:

Screening all patients before attending

All clients and osteopaths are asked to not attend the clinic if:

• If you, or anyone you live with, have any respiratory symptoms (e.g. cough, shortness of breath, WITH/WITHOUT fever):
  • we ask that you do not attend the clinic, and strongly recommend self-isolating for fourteen days. Even if you don’t have coronavirus, you will be helping to slow its spread, and you don’t want to get COVID-19 on top of another respiratory infection!
• you are a suspected case of COVID-19:
  • Persons requiring self-isolation (ed., returned overseas travellers)
  • Person awaiting test results for COVID-19
  • Person who has been in close contact with a confirmed case. See DHHS for definition of close contact:
  • https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/victorian-public-coronavirus-disease-covid-19#what-is-close-contact.
• We will waive fees for any cancellations in these circumstances

Arrival at the clinic

• Wash our hands: We are requesting that patients go straight into the bathroom on arrival (opposite the entrance), and thoroughly wash their hands with soap and water.
• No tea or water: Apologies, but for the duration we are no longer routinely offering teas and water on your arrival. Of course please do let us know if you need some water; but minimising transfer of objects between people is a key method of containment.
  
• No toys & magazines, but free wifi! We have also removed all toys and magazines etc. from the waiting area, and we ask that you refrain from reading the books on the bookshelf for the present. There is still free wi-fi available!
  

Changes to the rooms and treatment

• Move out of GP clinics: We will temporarily cease consultations from our GP clinic rooms at Moreland General Practice. Your osteopath will get in touch to dicuss seeing you at Moreland Road Clinic.
  
• Osteopathic treatment: Working in healthcare, we always take the risk of infection transmission very seriously, so you will be unlikely to see much change to the treatment itself. Certain approaches, such as intra-oral (inside the mouth) techniques, may be less used.
  
• Remove fabric covering: We are not using covers on the plinths, or towels and fleeces at the moment (the weather is being fairly co-operative in this regard). This means you will be lying on paper, directly on the vinyl.  This enables us to disinfect the surfaces in between patients. We are also changing pillow covers between sessions.
  
• Disinfection: As well as disinfecting the treatment bed between each patient, we are also cleaning and disinfecting all commonly-touched surfaces, such as chairs, desks, door handles, as well as payment devices, and pens/clipboards etc.
  

Changes to payment

• Alcohol gel: Please use the alcohol gel in the reception area before making payment.
• Pay Pass: If you are using cards (e.g. for HICAPS rebate, or payment), please swipe them through the reader yourself, when prompted by your osteopath.Unless you are in a hurry, we recommend using tap and pay, and splitting the transaction up (if necessary to keep under the $100 limit).
  

Social distancing measures

These are things that we can (and should) be doing, even before any official quarantines etc. are called.

• Avoiding high-traffic volume areas. Bars, public transport, libraries, restaurants, and coffee shops should be avoided if possible. If not, take basic precautions like washing your hands frequently, and don’t touch your face! Cancel your social engagement where possible.
• Avoiding crowded areas in general. Try to keep at least one (1), and preferably two (2) metres distance from others in public when you do have to go out. This is about as far as the droplets spread from a cough, before falling to the ground.
• Avoid close contact with individuals. As a general rule, avoid handshakes, hugs etc. This is a great shame, because I feel that one of the things the world can always use more of, is hugs. However, under the circumstances, we’ll just have to send each other hug and kiss emojis for a while.
• Avoid commonly-touched objects. Door handles, light switches, hand rails and the like are touched by hundreds, if not thousands, of hands every day. The virus can live up to three days on steel and other hard surfaces. These are the things we are being most vigilant about disinfecting in our clinic. Where you can’t avoid touching these things, ideally wear gloves. If you don’t have gloves, make a priority washing your hands, before you forget about it, and touch your face again!
  

In developing the above procedures, we have drawn on advice from Osteopathy Australia, the North West Primary Health Network, the Department of Health and Moreland General Practice.

We are aware that this is a very stressful time and are committed to support our patients through this period. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to discuss any of the above.

Warm regards,
Ned

Dr Edmund Bruce-Gardner (Osteopath)