Community News

COVID-19 UPDATES:

Updated 05/08/2020:

We continue to be open for well and sick visits.  We are using Doxy or tele-health visits where determined appropriate by your provider. We are taking all precautions in our office to keep your child and family safe.  We strongly urge you to keep your appointment for a well child check and consider scheduling now.  It is important to check your child's growth, development, check any necessary labs, and administer needed vaccines. We hope that we can return to a normal schedule in the future and at that time schools, camps and sports will require the necessary exams and forms. We anticipate our usually busy summer to have an even higher demand for well checks. We will be there to try to accommodate as many patients as possible but to ensure your child doesn't miss out on activities, we recommend scheduling your appointment now.

FOR SICK VISITS:
We are no longer taking walk in visits during sick call hours.  We ask that you call from home before coming or from the parking lot if it is between 8-9am (during our previously normal sick call hours) before trying to enter the office.  On weekends, please call once you arrive at the office and you will be instructed on when to come in. This helps us to keep everyone distanced from each other, keeps you out of the waiting room, and helps keep your child, your family, and our staff safe. We have plenty of visits during the day and will be able to accommodate anyone needing an appointment.

In the Merrimack Valley, rates of COVID-19 are fairly low with Haverhill having the highest rate of infection.  We urge you to continue to stay home, wear masks when making necessary trips out of the house, and practice good hand washing.  For more information about COVID-19 and the pediatric population please check this article.

 

OFFICE VISIT UPDATES 3/24/2020:

As of 3/24/2020

In an effort to minimize exposure to illness for well visits, we are changing how and where we do visits.  We are separating sick and well visits by location and or time. We have many available sick appointments during the day.  Also, we will be closing the office at 5pm in all locations.  IT IS STILL RECOMMENDED TO KEEP YOUR WELL VISIT.  We are doing our best ensure your safety by sanitizing between patients, rooming patients immediately, and wearing masks for all visits.

We ask you follow the guidelines below for visits:

  1. Only one adult per child and please limit siblings and other family members.
  2. If a parent has any symptoms associated with COVID-19, another caregiver should bring the child into the office.
  3. If a parent and/or child has been exposed to COVID-19, please call the office to schedule an appointment so we take appropriate precautions.
  4. All attempts should be made to keep any adult over the age of 60 from coming into the office

This can be a stressful time for children.  Please refer to these resources for more information on how to help your child.

5-4-3-2-1 Coping Technique

Grounding Techniques

Coping During COVID-19 Resources

99 Coping Skills

COVID-19 INFORMATION AND TESTING

Please refer to the CDC for all updates and recommendations concerning COVID-19. This includes information about travel, social distancing, and prevention.  The Department of Public Health also has current up-to-date information on local risk and testing procedures.

As of 3/24/2020, we still do NOT have COVID-19 testing available in our office.  Because of the overwhelming amount of phone calls we are receiving, we ask that you please refer to the above resources with questions so that we can help our ill patient who may have had exposure to COVID-19 or who are ill with routine childhood illnesses and need medical advice and care.

 

 

NEW HOURS STARTING MARCH 2ND 2020

Due to patient feedback we are changing our hours starting March 2nd, 2020.  We will now be closing at 7pm in Haverhill on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday and 7pm in Newburyport Lower Level Monday-Friday.  We will be open instead from 5pm-6pm to better accommodate our patients’ needs.  Please let us know if you have any feedback (good or bad) with these changes during our trial period over the next 3 months.

We have recently had an increase in patients late for appointments.  In order to give your child the time necessary and deserved for their appointment, we ask that you arrive 10 minutes early for all appointments to register and complete all paperwork.  If you arrive late you may be asked to reschedule.

A Focus on the Future

URGENT CARE REFERRAL POLICY

At Childrens Health Care, we strive to provide the best care for our patients at both sick and well visits. This includes timely availability of our pediatric providers for urgent visits, with access to your child's medical records, in a friendly and familiar setting. With rare exceptions, such as extreme inclement weather or other emergencies, we are open 365 mornings a year for walk-in sick call and also have urgent appointments available each weekday until 8:00pm.

In most cases, we therefore will not issue referrals or provide approval to insurance companies for outside urgent care or walk-in clinic visits for services that could have been provided in one of our offices on days when we are open. if you have a question about the need for urgent care for your child, please call and speak to our triage nurses or the on-call provider, who can help guide you to the most appropriate care.