Culmore Clinic announced that it’s not able to provide in-clinic care for those with symptoms of COVID-19, but it does have new procedures in place to combat the spread of the coronavirus to its patients and staffers.

In a statement released by the clinic, it said “The health of our patients, physicians, staff/volunteers, and visitors are our top priority. We are continuing to monitor the COVID-19 virus and are staying vigilant with our preparedness protocol so as to ensure that Culmore Clinic can remain a primary healthcare provider for our community.”

Despite not being able to treat the coronavirus, the clinic said it’s working to provide tele-medical visits (with interpretation services) and advising patients of the best and most current course of action advised by the Center for Disease Control and Fairfax County Health Department.

A Crisis Response Team has been announced, including: Dr. Charles Sneiderman (volunteer Medical Director); Maura Constance, NP (NP, Population Health); Barbara Weingold, RN (volunteer Patient Care manager and former Emergency Department lead at GW Hospital and disaster recovery volunteer in Haiti) and co-founder Terry O’Hara Lavoie (Acting Clinical Director)

A crisis response team will be monitoring the spread and management of the virus and the impact it might have on its services to the community. The team has made the following recommendations to protect the staff and patients from possible infection, so those patients who depend on the clinic as their primary healthcare provider can still receive treatment.

• New cleaning protocols have been instituted for staff and volunteers as well, such as increased hand-washing, nurses wearing disposable gloves during patient contact and all staff and guests having their temperature taken prior to entering the clinic. The clinic is also urging those who are feeling unwell to stay home.

All scheduled patients are being screened via telephone to ensure the patient does not have a cough, respiratory distress and/or fever and that they have not traveled outside the U.S. in the last month. If patients answer yes to either of these questions, they will be instructed to not come in and will receive a follow-up tele-medical visit from a provider (with interpreters as needed). Accompanying children are also being asked to stay home to reduce the chances of exposure.

Cleaning and disinfecting will increase in frequency between appointments and throughout the day in both exam rooms as well as public spaces within The Clinic.

The Crisis Response Team will continue to monitor this situation as it evolves, and will continue to update the community with new procedures and processes as they are put into place in effort to protect our precious community. 

For more information, contact executive director Anne-Lise Quinn at anneliseq@culmoreclinic.org.