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COVID-19
Effective Monday, August 1, 2022, we are happy to announce that we are once again welcoming clients into our hospital to wait in the lobby if you prefer. With this change in hospital protocols, we have specific guidelines in place to ensure everyone's continued safety and comfort.
Please carefully review our guidelines below, and do not hesitate to reach out to us with any questions.
🐾 Please note that masks are required to enter our hospital.
🐾 The health and well-being of our clients and patients will always be our top priority. Due to limited space in our lobby for all of the practices in the building to share, we may ask you to wait in your vehicle until space allows us to welcome additional clients into the building.
🐾 If you prefer not to wear a mask or if you do not wish to enter the hospital at this time, curbside services are still available. Remain in your vehicle and call 410-224-0331 upon arrival.
🐾 Stable, non-urgent patients will continue to be examined and treated on a drop-off basis.
🐾 We kindly request that families of pets who arrive in critical condition wait in the lobby or in their vehicles so our doctors can meet with you directly.
🐾 We are not permitting cage-side visitation at this time. Visitation must be arranged with your pet's clinical team and can take place in an exam room (pending availability) or outside if your pet's condition allows.
🐾 Please be kind and courteous. Vulgar and aggressive behavior will not be permitted and any client who displays or threatens violence will be required to leave the facility. We understand that this decision may not align with your personal views, but we are operating with a high level of awareness and caution for the health and safety of our clients and staff members. Please be kind to our staff and tolerant of our current restrictions.
**Wait Times Are Currently Much Longer Than Normal**
We are much busier—25-50%—at all times due to the following factors:
Many pet parents are still spending a lot of time at home with their pets around the clock
Our essential workers must expose themselves tothe public daily and sometimes become ill with symptoms that require them to quarantine until they are clear to return to work, so we are periodically experiencing unavoidable staffing issues.
Other local primary care and emergency hospitals are experiencing staffing issues and have significantly reduced their hours of operation.
This all results in more patients coming to our facility and unavoidably longer wait times. Emergency animal hospitals across the country are experiencing regular wait times of 4-10 hours. We are working diligently to hire and train more staff to accommodate this increased patient volume; however, we have finite physical space and we are often at full capacity.
We regret that we have to take these precautions, but we firmly believe this will allow us to continue to keep our facility open so we may provide you and your animal family members the concern and high-quality care you expect in your time of need.
Please Click Below for Our Electronic Client Forms. Completing these forms upon arrival will assist us to check your pet in a timely, efficient fashion:
INSTRUCTIONS FOR ARRIVAL
𝐖𝐄 𝐀𝐒𝐊 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐋𝐎𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐃𝐎 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐋.
When you arrive at our facility, Chesapeake Veterinary Referral Center, pull into a numbered parking space nearest the building entrance.
**Please remain in your car and call the front desk (410)224-0331. All communication will need to be done via telephone**
A Client Service Representative will take your and your pet’s information by phone and enter it into our system. When available, a member of our veterinary support team will come out to your car to get your pet and bring him/her into the lobby where the examination will begin.
Vital signs will be taken and a doctor will come to examine the patient. Animals that appear to be in more serious condition will be taken directly to the treatment room—where there is more advanced diagnostic equipment—to be evaluated.
ONCE WE HAVE TAKEN POSSESSION OF YOUR PET—EVEN FOR OUTPATIENT PROCEDURES—YOU ARE FREE TO LEAVE THE PREMISES. ALL FURTHER COMMUNICATION WILL BE DONE BY PHONE. We are not always able to perform minor outpatient procedures while you wait as our attention is always prioritized for more critical cases. The number of those very sick patients has also increased.
FOR PETS ARRIVING IN CRITICAL CONDITION
If your pet appears to be in a more critical condition, a CST member will read to you our Consent to Triage policy and ask you for a verbal consent to immediately begin treatment as needed to stabilize your pet. The doctor will call you as soon as possible, but understand that stabilizing your pet will be their top priority. As such, the doctor’s communication with you may not be immediate.
FOR PETS IN STABLE CONDITION
For animals that are more stable, we ask you to be patient while the doctor examines and develops a diagnostic and treatment plan for your pet. Once that is done, the doctor will call you and go over their findings and recommendations regarding diagnostics and treatment. Again, please be patient as there are often many animals being evaluated and treated at the same time.
Once you approve the doctor’s recommendations, a CST member will go over a detailed estimate the doctor has developed and ask for your consent to proceed with their recommendations. We will have a digital authorization for you to sign electronically and we will begin with approved treatment. For a pet that is going to be hospitalized, the CST member will ask for a deposit and take your payment information over the phone. For those pets treated as outpatients, we will perform the diagnostics and treatment, and call you when we have completed treatment. A Client Service Representative will call you to take your payment over the phone. When you return, we will return the patient to you in the parking lot.
FOR PETS WHO MUST BE HUMANELY EUTHANIZED
Effective 5/1/2020, clients may not be present for the euthanasia procedure. We have found it impossible for our veterinarians to safely distance themselves from grieving pet parents during euthanasia. Please call us when you arrive and inform the Client Service Team that you are here with your pet for humane euthanasia. Further instruction will be provided.
HOSPITAL VISITATION TEMPORARILY DISALLOWED
Unfortunately, we must take the essential step of forbidding visitation of hospitalized pets and for personal items to be left with pets. We understand how stressful this will be to you when you are already experiencing the anxiety of having a sick family member in the hospital, but we need to approach all our interactions with the public with an abundance of caution so we can remain open for you and your pet. When time permits, we will gladly take pictures and/or videos of your hospitalized pet and e-mail/text them to you at your request.
A NOTE ABOUT KINDNESS
It is often easy to forget that your veterinarians, veterinary technicians/nurses, veterinary assistants, and client service representatives are all also members of our community equally negatively impacted by COVID-19. We are working under much more stressful conditions than usual. While we understand that you have arrived very concerned about your pet's health, please be mindful that our staff is also coping with this unprecedented pandemic and share the same anxiety you and your family are feeling while still trying to provide the best possible patient care. Please start with kindness, practice gratitude, and afford us as much patience and grace as you can. We are trying to do the same for you, and we are grateful for our community's support.
𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘯𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘈𝘈𝘝𝘌𝘊 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴.