We are happy to answer your questions. Please submit your questions via our website contact form or email contact@acupuncturebethesda.com
Q: Who should be coming to receive care right now? A: We recommend patients who require treatment for their health to either use our telehealth services or come for in-person visits. Currently, in-person visits at our center are focused on treating chemotherapy and cancer-related symptoms, chronic pain conditions, post-operative and rehab complications, challenging pregnancies, anxiety, PTSD, depression, addictions, immune and inflammatory conditions. For elective procedures, such as cosmetic acupuncture, we recommend patients use our take-home kits and telehealth guidance. Q: Why has your office been open during the COVID-19 pandemic when most other acupuncturists have been closed? A: Acupuncturists are considered essential healthcare personnel. Our office opened in February 2020 and was designed with the goal of being able to offer a safe environment for our immunocompromised patients. Dr. Tian’s experience and affiliation with Johns Hopkins kept us updated on the preparations needed. We had personal protective equipment (PPE), sanitizing supplies and equipment in advance and were able to implement safety and health standards for our patients and staff that exceeded the guidelines of both OSHA and CDC. Q: What is your office doing to keep patients safe? A: The safety and health of our patients remain our top priority. All surfaces and treatment rooms are cleaned thoroughly and wiped down with medical grade cleaning agents after each patient use. A commercial grade UV-C whole room germicidal machine runs for 30 minutes to further sanitize both air and surfaces. Treatment rooms then rest with a hospital grade air sanitizer utilized to filter out both chemicals and viruses as small as 0.1 micron. The preparation for consultation rooms are similar, with the addition of sanitized acrylic partitions at each desk. The reception area has floating panels installed for staff and patient safety. All of our medical and linen supplies are single use. Schedules have been modified to limit interaction between patients. We pre-screen all patients with scheduled appointments. We also perform temperature checks with no-contact thermometers and screen all who enter our office. For more information about our updated policy and procedures, please visit our website.
Q: I know your office has COVID-19 policies and I want to come in for treatment but I am worried about coming into close contact with others in the parking lot and elevator on my way to your office. What are your recommendations for avoiding this situation?
A: This is great question. While we cannot control the flow of people outside of our office, our patients prefer weekend and evening appointments to avoid interaction with others in the public spaces. Our office is located in a medical building where most businesses are closed on the weekends and close by 4:00 pm on weekdays. We accept weekday appointments up to 6:30pm, and Saturday appointments up to 1:00pm. To give you a visual idea of what you can expect to see at these times, the photo above was taken in front of our Champlain building and parking lot on Saturday. Please visit Patient Info for our extensive office safety protocols and procedures.