Greetings from the CFP Staff!
Hello to all of you out there in pandemic world,
Dr. Pugh attended the virtual Travis Co. Medical Society Town Hall on the 23rd, and the great news is that In Austin, the rate of cases of covid that was doubling every 2-4 days at the beginning of the outbreak is now doubling every 13.5 days. Shelter in place works! If we can just “crack the window a little” in opening up, but still maintain social distancing and fewer contacts, we will not overwhelm the hospital systems as the numbers increase. Also, Austin Public Health is aggressively testing nursing homes, elder care homes and clusters of cases. The plan is to “cocoon the elderly and frail when beginning to open starts to happen”. You can read her full report on this Town Hall on our facebook page or our website.
We hope that all of you are planning, like we are, to continue to shelter in place (for everything other than essential travel) until the data clearly shows we will not go backwards. Right now, that’s possibly the first of June, time will tell. The implications of us doing anything less than that will mean that all the sacrifices we have made will have been in vain, and that is not a good option. This is where practicing delayed gratification, (hard for most of us), and keeping your eye on the prize is paramount.
I took my granddaughter to the eye doctor on Friday. She could not get more contact lenses until they saw her (CRAZY) and she is nearly legally blind without her contacts, so we were stuck. It was instructive to go on a visit as a patient, with the eyes of a healthcare provider, in this new paradigm. I was a hand sanitizer, kleenex wielding, tasmanian devil! They did not have their plan perfected! This visit made me very proud of the processes we have in place at Central Family to make sure that our patients and our staff are protected from this contagious virus. It also made me realize that going forward, we still have more thought and planning to do before we reopen the office to normal patient flow in a safe way. You can be reassured that we are working hard on this future planning. Right now, we are able to offer safe and efficient lab services, but that is one person at a time coming in! The good thing about having this time to plan, though, is that we will have time to phase things in, so that we are continuing to be part of flattening the curve and keeping everyone healthy.
Lab Services:
For those of you who have follow up visits scheduled in the next month and need lab done before your visit, please call the office and we will talk you through the process to do this. Again, we have this part down to be as safe, efficient and painless as possible! Thanks to all of our staff and especially Yvonne, our phlebotomist, who draws blood in the office, and our rock star Physician Assistant, Eva Montes, who will meet you at your car for tests other than labs.
We have a favor to ask. If you can, buy your herbs and Supplements from us.
Our herb and supplement sales are one of the factors allowing us to keep our staff busy and paid. Our front office staff, Raquel, Beau, Jennyfer, are not some random Amazon person, and will handle your order in two possible ways for your convenience, as below:
We have a favor to ask. If you can, buy your herbs and Supplements from us.
Our herb and supplement sales are one of the factors allowing us to keep our staff busy and paid. Our front office staff, Raquel, Beau, Jennyfer, are not some random Amazon person, and will handle your order in two possible ways for your convenience, as below:
Drive By Pick up:
If you prefer to have an outing in your car, you can call and place an order by phone and we will have it ready for you to come by to pick it up curbside.
Order online:
We have had an online store that many of you were not even aware that we had until recently. The order is carefully packed and sent off the day that we get it (M-F), so you will get your order quickly. Beau makes sure to fill all orders received over the weekend on Monday morning to get them out quickly. Any order $75 or more has free shipping that is just as fast! Ordering from us also assures that you know where the supplements came from, how they have been stored, and that they are not out of date. We hope you will take a look at the store and place your next order with us!
I know that it is hard to stay motivated and vigilant against something that we cannot see, that feels far away from our experience. Just remember that the awesome job that Austin has done was happening at the same time that we watched NYC be decimated by this virus. Not only old people but young healthy people, children, pregnant women are being taken down by this virus. Stay strong in your resolve to be part of the collective good: wash your hands, wear your mask, stay at home, and practice physical distancing. Be brave, and kindly remind your family and friends to do the same. Now is not the time to be afraid to speak out.
With gratitude to you all,
Connie and all of the CFP practitioners and staff.
Greetings from the CFP Staff!