Underhill Optometry Patient Guidelines
First and foremost, thank you for trusting us to care for your eyes and your health. We are taking every precaution to keep our patients and our staff safe during these times. Our office and procedures may be a little different than in the past but it’s all for your safety.
As such, please read through these guidelines/expectations for your visit to our office.
1. Entrance to the office is by appointment only. All visits, from eye exams to glasses pick-up or adjustments, need an appointment. This is to help ensure that we can maintain proper social distancing and be able to sanitize the office properly after each visitor.
2. ALL patients (>2 years of age) MUST wear a mask to enter the office. This is non-negotiable as it is mandated by our college. Please make sure you bring your own mask. If you do not arrive with a mask, we will unfortunately have to reschedule your appointment for the safety of our staff, and you will be charged a $60 late cancellation fee. Appointment slots are very limited as we reopen, with a high demand for the patients who had to be cancelled. As such, every appointment slot is essential.
3. We are requiring that you to give us 48 hours’ notice if you need to cancel your appointment. We are seeing fewer patients per day to help maintain social distancing, and we have a waiting list of people wanting to be seen. Less than 48 hours’ notice will result in a $60 no-show/late cancellation fee.
4. For our patients booked more than two weeks before your appointment, you will receive a two week reminder call. If we do not hear back from you confirming your appointment within 48 hours, we will cancel your appointment and offer it to another patient. We apologize for not being able to save appointment slots like we have in the past, but due to the backlog of patients, we need to confirm that everyone will arrive as scheduled.
5. You will be asked to fill out an online Medical History and Needs form. If you are not comfortable filling it out online, our receptionists will be happy to go through these questions with you during a phone call prior to your appointment. This is to help gather as much information as possible about the purpose and needs of your visit while minimizing the time you spend in office and minimizing the need to talk when in close contact with the doctor– this keeps the doctor and you safer. We require that these forms be filled out 48 hours after booking your appointment to confirm your spot.
6. When you arrive at your appointment, please call our office from your car. If at all possible, we would ask you to wait in your car until the doctor is ready to see you. The receptionist will call you when we can begin the pre-test. If mobility is an issue, you can wait in our waiting room. We are hoping to limit people in the waiting room to help with social distancing. Our office door is locked so we do not have any walk-ins. Please knock when you arrive.
7. We ask that you come to your appointment alone. If the patient needs a caregiver, please only bring one. Please also reduce the number of items you bring into the office to avoid potential contamination.
8. We ask that as soon as you enter our office, please proceed to the reception desk and sanitize your hands. Afterwards, the receptionist will take your temperature using our infrared, non-contact thermometer as suggested by the college. They will also review our COVID-19 questionnaire. If any result is positive, we will ask that you reschedule your appointment to a later date at least 14 days in the future, as well as provide you with the phone number to Telehealth Ontario for you to call. Otherwise, you will then proceed to pre-test.
9. Our opticians will see patients only by appointment. No walk-ins will be allowed. This helps with social distancing. It also allows our opticians enough time to make sure all frames are sanitized between each patient. Only staff will handle the frames. Any handled frames will be put in a container to be sterilized after the patient is finished in the dispensary, and will not be put back on the boards until they are sterilized
10. Our staff and doctors will be wearing Personal Protective Equipment. This is to ensure everyone’s safety. Our scrubs are washed after every day. Gloves are thrown out after every patient. Face shields are worn to protect the face.
11. Do not wear your contact lenses into the office. Instead please bring a picture, or the actual boxes of your contact lenses.
12. When the staff is closer than 6 feet to you, we will try to limit conversation to avoid the risk of spreading the virus. Both you and the doctor should speak as little as possible during refraction and slit lamp examination. We are being extra cautious at this point in time.
13. We will be doing a follow-up email after your appointment to get your feedback about your experience with this new appointment. This is a new way to practice, and we want to ensure we keep our patients as happy and as comfortable as possible. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
If you have any questions or concerns about your appointment, please contact our office at 416-445-7490 or email at info@underhilloptometry.com
Thank you for your patience and your loyalty during this time.
Sincerely,
Underhill Optometry