For the safety of our patients we have made significant changes to both our physical facilities and our office systems at Riolo Orthodontics.
We have reopened full operation for regular patient care. We have made significant changes to our physical facilities and our office systems to minimize risk to both our patients and staff.
If you are a “high risk” patient with respect to COVID-19, Dr Riolo will see you on a “One on One” basis.
Who are higher risk patients?
Anyone 60 years and older as well as those individuals with an underlying health condition that increases the risk of death if they contract COVID-19. You can find details regarding who is at increased risk from the COVID-19 virus here.
Those patients not at “higher risk” or living with higher risk individuals can if they choose keep their orthodontic appointment. It is likely you will be contacted to move your appointment because we are modifying our schedule to minimize social contacts in our common spaces.
What else are we doing in response to COVID-19?
Dr Riolo has a PhD in Epidemiology, specializing in infectious disease transmission. We are monitoring the situation carefully and are continuously working to make your visit to our office among the safest destinations of your day. We continue to follow all King county, State of Washington and CDC infection control procedures. In addition, due to COVID-19 we have made the following modifications to our office systems and our infection mitigation procedures:
- We have remodeled our common area’s including elimination of our front desk and the establishing a “Patient Lounge” to maximize social distancing in our common areas.
- We have modified our office systems to minimize patient to patient transmission of COVID-19: These changes include modified scheduling to ensure a minimum number of individuals are occupying the patient lounge at any time.
- We are making extra sweeps through the office with medical grade surface disinfectant.
- We are monitoring all of our staff for any symptom of illness, including daily temperature monitoring.
- We are screening all of our patients for any signs of illness with a brief questionnaire at each visit.
- We are working to identify “high risk” individuals and those patients that are in close contact with high risk individuals in order to reschedule or see these patient “one on one” if necessary. You can find information regard who is at “higher risk” at our recent blog post here
- We are requesting that patient do not arrive early or late to their appointment to minimize crowding in the patient lounge. In addition we are requesting that patients come to their appointment unaccompanied when possible.
Please notify us if you have been sick in the last two weeks or have had contact with someone who has been sick in the last two weeks. You will not have to wait an extended period for a new appointment if you reschedule your appointment due to illness or suspected contact with someone exposed to COVID-19 . We will reschedule your appointment to reflect a 2 week waiting period
Both Drs. Riolo and Bayirli have PhD’s in Public Health Epidemiology; Dr Riolo’s doctoral work for his PhD specifically related to the identification of the factors important in infectious disease transmission. Be assured we are monitoring the local situation carefully and are confident that a visit to our office is one of the safest of your daily activities. We will continue to monitor the situation continuously and take additional steps as necessary to keep all of our patients and their family and friends safe.
