Veterinary Hospitals are specified as an “essential business” under the executive order issued by Maryland governor Larry Hogan on March 23, 2020. Jefferson Veterinary Hospital will continue to operate with the safety of you, our clients, our patients and staff as a paramount consideration. We are taking the following measures to keep you, your pet, our veterinarians and staff safe during this time:
Social Distancing (Maintaining a Distance of 6 Feet Between People)
Limiting the number of people present in our lobby.
Limiting the number of people going in and out of the hospital
In cases where social distancing measures cannot be maintained, we may call and request you to wait in your vehicle and one of our staff will arrange to get your pet from you.
Taking your pet out of the examination room to conduct exams in our treatment area.
Requesting help from clients by having only one person accompany your pet to their appointment.
Requesting that cats be brought in carriers to the hospital.
Not accepting walk-in appointments for nail trims.
Sanitization
Increasing the frequency of our already stringent sanitization methods of the hospital.
Sanitizing high contact areas of the hospital (e.g. door handles) on a constant basis.
As per our regular operating protocol, exam rooms are thoroughly sanitized between clients.
As per our regular operating protocol, soap, water and sanitizer are available for client use throughout the hospital.
Social Distancing for Prescription Pick up
Please call us at least one hour in advance, or more if you can, with your refill information.
We prefer to take your payment over the phone with a debit/credit card.
When you arrive, please call us from the parking lot and we will meet you to deliver your medication and receipt.
If you are sick, we are happy to reschedule your appointment. If you are sick and your pet is sick, or needs emergency care, please have another person bring your pet to us. If this is not possible, let us know so that we can make arrangements with you to get your pet to the hospital. We do not want any animal to suffer due to the current restrictions and will do our best to work with you.
How do these measures affect me?
One of the main results from following recommended social distancing measures is that we are reducing the number of people in the hospital. What this means for you is that we will have to communicate more over the phone with you about your pet. It may also take longer than normal to get on the schedule for a well pet exam as we are limiting the number of these appointments. We continue to prioritize sick and emergency cases.
We continue to follow the requirements from the State of Maryland and the recommendations from the CDC and we will move back to our regular operating protocol as soon as these bodies deem it is safe to do so.
By taking these actions together we will get through these unprecedented times and we will continue to provide the best quality veterinary medicine to your pets in the process. Thank you for helping to keep everyone safe and healthy.