March 14, 2020
Praxis Integrated Medical Arts
Covid 19 Statement
As a healthcare practitioner it is important to let you, my present and prospective clients, know how my practice functions to keep you and your community safe and healthy during the present outbreak of Covid-19.
Acupuncture is Licenced by the state of Virginia, and although we have our own curriculum, accreditation, and professional organizations, ultimately our practice is placed under the purview of the American Medical Association. As such we are governed by their bylaws and recommendations. Presently the AMA suggests following the practices laid out by the WHO, and CDC in regards to practice management. The CDC has an enormous wealth of information on their website and i highly recommend you visit its web page.
The CDC has several pages dedicated to guidelines for healthcare practitioners. I have reviewed them and will be integrating their recommendations as follows.
For Present Clients:
Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure. These include fever, cough, shortness of breath. If you are experiencing these symptoms please contact me to reschedule your appointment. All late rescheduling fees will be dropped. Please contact your western health care providers immediately. If you are on any herbal supplements please discontinue their use until you receive a diagnosis or lack thereof.
For those without symptoms you may chose to keep your present appointments and in order to help manage the public health concerns I will be asking for the following:
- Upon entering the clinic, please immediately wash your hands for more than 20 seconds.
- Please use the Purell provided at the desk afterwards.
- Please allow me to start the interview by taking your temperature with the knowledge that anything over 100 degrees will stop the appointment and you should return home and monitor any further symptoms.
- Please use the provided tissues to cough, sneeze, or make contact with your mucus membranes.
- Generally please follow the CDC guidelines for minimizing your own personal risk for exposure including avoiding large gatherings.
- Please note that I will have a limited supply of Herbs available as I work with already strained suppliers. There are herbal formulas that can be used directly to combat the illness, and certainly many more for recovery after but we would need to discuss these details as your case evolves.
-If you would prefer to do telemedicine please contact me and we can work out the details.
For New/Future Clients:
If you are concerned about your exposure risk and wish to limit your exposure in addition to my normal appointments I will be offering both:
- In-person Herbal Consultations
- Tele-medical Herbal, Nutritional, Qi Gong, and Meditation Consultations.
- Again please note that if you have any of the described symptoms I ask that you go through western screening before requesting a new appointment in order to assure the health and safety of my present client population.
Safety for Myself and In-Office:
- All surfaces in the office will be sanitized between clients.
- As always, sheets will be changed between clients and I will be discontinuing the use of any blankets.
- As always, needles are one time use only.
- As always, cups, gua-sha tools and any other instruments will be sanitized between uses.
- As always, I will be washing my hands after the insertion of needles and in between clients.
- I will ask that we not shake hands but instead bow or do a “namaste” to greet one another.
- I will be monitoring my own temperature and symptomatology.
- I will be wearing fresh clothes to all my appointments having come directly from my home.
- I will wear surgical gloves and tailor treatments to any concerns as requested.
- I personally have been minimizing by exposure to large groups.