A Day in the Life of an In-Person Appointment at Holyoke Pediatrics

We know that you may have questions about coming into our offices during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the healthcare providers at Holyoke Pediatric Associates feel strongly that it is important to not put you, or your children’s health care needs on hold.  Our offices remain open and we have continued to see patients in our offices.  We want you to know about the steps we are taking to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and provide the safest possible environment for both our patients and our staff. 

When you call to schedule an office visit, you’ll be asked if you or your child are experiencing any symptoms of COVID-19.  You will also be asked whether you or anyone in your household has recently tested positive for COVID-19.  We will ask the same questions when you arrive and are being checked-in for your appointment.

Prior to your appointment, you will receive an automated message via text or phone (depending on your contact preferences) reminding you of your appointment date, time and location.  These messages are 3 weeks prior to the appointment, 3 days prior, and 3 hours prior.  A staff member may also call you 1 day prior to your appointment if you are scheduled for a well child visit.  Additionally, 7 days prior, you will also receive a reminder message through your MyChart.  At this time you can log on to the portal and complete all of the pre-visit questionnaires.  This helps lessen the paperwork that you will have to fill out the day of your appointment.

**In order to limit the number of in-office visitors, we are allowing only one caregiver to accompany your child to their visit. Please try not to bring siblings along if you are able.

**We ask that you do not bring your child to the office for a well visit if your child also has a fever or respiratory symptoms. Please call the office to reschedule and discuss the symptoms with one of our triage nurses.

Upon arrival to either our Holyoke or South Hadley location you will text our staff that you are here. The number to text appears on both the doors and a sandwich board outside the offices. 

A member of our staff is then going to call you and check you in for your visit. At that time, they will complete the check-in process and you will be asked several questions: 

~ To verify your demographics
~ To verify your insurance 
~ To confirm who your primary care provider is
~ They will collect your co-pay via credit/debit card (you can also pay through MyChart)
~ They will review health screening questions with you
~ You will be asked what type of mask you have on.  Currently, we are not allowing patients or family members to wear masks with vents in the office.  If you have one of these masks, or do not have a mask, we will provide you with one. 
~ Once the check in process above is complete, you will be asked to continue to wait in your car and a clinical staff member will call you to complete additional pre-visit documentation.

Next, one of our clinical staff members will call you to review additional information pertaining to your visit, including the reason for your visit, allergies, medications, family history and developmental questions (for physicals).  They will instruct you to meet them at the front door, where they will take your temperature using “no touch” thermometers and perform hand hygiene with you.

You your child will next have your vitals taken and you will be brought into a room to see your provider. We ask that everyone in the office keep their mask on the entire time they are in the office, even if you are alone in your room waiting to be seen.

After every visit, the exam rooms are completely cleaned and sanitized to help keep all our patients and staff members safe.  We are also taking extra precautions to ensure that our offices and high touch surfaces are being cleaned and sanitized throughout the day.  You will notice floor markers and other reminders to help you practice social distancing while you are moving around in our offices.

We appreciate your understanding and want you to know that your adherence to these steps help us to follow health and safety guidelines to help prevent the possibility of exposure or spread of COVID-19 infection within our offices.