The Medical Practice That Never Closed
June 22, 2021 10:03 amIt was February, 2020 when I called my 7 staff members together for a meeting. I had spent the weekend developing a 21-point safety plan to keep all of them and our patients safe during the pandemic and the Covid-19 lockdown.
It was important to re-emphasize to my staff, as the leading private urology practice in Southern California, we could not and would not close our doors to patients in need of our services during this public health emergency.
We could not ask patients to wait when they needed urological care, whether it was for the conditions we treat in our Centers of Excellence (prostate cancer, bladder control in women, benign prostate growth in men, the No Needle/No Scalpel Vasectomy and vasectomy reversals) or other urologic concerns such as, kidney stones, bladder infections, bladder control in men, and more. I wanted to let our patients know we were open and that patients should not delay seeking medical care, especially those needing prostate cancer screening or treatment.
I reassured my staff that no one would be furloughed or laid off, as many other medical practices were doing. All staff members would receive full benefits. We’ve been together for many years and I wanted to emphasis that I would not do anything to break up the team. I also stressed that I would be coming in to work every day and would appreciate it if they would be with me to care for our patients.
The results were truly remarkable. Every staff member came in every day to care for our patients unless they had child care issues. Every member of the Western States HIFU staff showed what true professionals they are!
We adopted common sense infection control safety measures including:
- Face masks for everyone
- Disinfecting every surface in the office hourly
- Only using a staff member’s personal phone and computer
- Social distancing
These were some of the policies as the safety measures and infection control protocol put in place. What we knew and proved is that common sense measures to minimize the chance of infection spread, that we’ve done in 36 years of caring for our patients, work and we continue to do that every day. We will continue our enhanced infection control practices to protect our patients.
In the end, no staff member or patient got sick because of Covid-19 in our offices. Now, we are all vaccinated and have removed mask restrictions for vaccinated patients.
We continue as the largest patient-focused, minimally invasive prostate practice in the western United States. If you would like to talk to us about any urological condition, or schedule an appointment, please call us at 888-735-4336. We also have direct phone lines for prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment questions, 844-443-8362 and for No Needle/No Scalpel Vasectomy, call 844-Easy Vas (844-327-9827).
Western States HIFU never closed and remains open for your urological needs!
This post was written by Western States HIFU