UPDATES AS OF 7/6/2021
We are excited to announce that we have a new update to our phone system and are currently in the process of reopening the hospital using a phased approach!
Our phones will now allow you to leave an immediate message if you wish to place a request for a medication refills or a prescription food. PLEASE listen to the prompts as your phone call will be forwarded to the front desk if you do not press the prompt to order medicine/food. You will not be directed to voice mail! So, do not hang up and redial if your call is answered by the prompting system.
We will continue to offer curbside service for those of you who prefer to wait outside, and we will be offering indoor appointments as well as a limited number of drop-off appointments for those with scheduling conflicts.
Boarding and grooming clients will continue to drop off and pick up curbside only as we strive to limit the number of folks congregating in the lobby.
Food and medications will still be delivered curbside - you will not need to come inside! We will continue to use our outside Drop Off Box if you need to return a stool sample.
We ask that you call when you arrive and WAIT FOR YOUR CALL TO BE TRANSFERRED TO THE FRONT DESK. Do not hang up and redial if the auto-attendant answers the phone. Listen to the prompts. If you have scheduled an in-clinic appointment, you will continue to wait in your car until a staff member can direct you and your pet to the lobby where you will wait “on deck” for an exam room. For the safety of our staff, we ask that only 2 adults (plus any young children who cannot wait alone in the car) come inside for the appointment.
At this time we will require that clients who enter the building wear a mask because we have vulnerable employees and clients in the building. We want to provide a safe environment for everyone and, of course, our goal is ultimately to completely reopen. We will continuously evaluate and adjust our protocols. If you prefer not to wear a mask, we will have a limited number of appointments (for dogs only) that can be conducted outside (weather permitting) at the picnic table at the rear of the building.
It is a little trickier to be inside a veterinary hospital than to enter a retail store. Our rooms/hallways are not large enough for social distancing. We work with your pets in close proximity to one another and we are in the room for a relatively long period of time Therefore, we will ask that you respect our wishes to wear a mask inside. We will also practice as much social distancing as possible, so we will make some accommodations to our check-in/check-out procedures to facilitate that. As, currently, less than 50% of Ohioans have been fully vaccinated, there is still concern for community spread of the virus.
Our focus remains always on caring for your pets and trying to communicate with you as effectively as possible! The number of calls to our hospital has increased significantly this past year. We are utilizing all forms of communication in order to expedite your waiting time when you need to hear from us. We can text, email and call! Please share with us your preferred numbers and up-to-date email addresses - these are for internal use ONLY and are used to make sure we get you all the information you need in a timely way!
We greatly appreciate your patience and understanding in working with scheduling availability challenges - we are doing what is best for your safety and the safety of our team. If you have any questions regarding our new protocol, please refer to our website (bartelspethospital.com) or our Facebook page for up to the minute notification!. Thank you!
Summer is here – and that means an increased likelihood of disease transmission by fleas, ticks and heartworms. Is your pet on year-round prevention? Now is a great time to ask us about options like INJECTABLE heartworm prevention! Alarmingly, recently published counts of ticks in Ohio show that their numbers are EXTREMELY high so far this year, so we expect the incidence of tick borne disease (Lyme, Ehrlichiosis, Anaplasma, Babesia, even Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever!) to soar.
Sincerely,
The entire team!
Gretchen Zarle DVM, Barb Akl DVM, & Anne Soinski DVM
