Important Clinic Updates

2/7/23

Hello clients and friends of Putnam Veterinary Clinic, Inc. We wanted to update you all on a few adjustments we have made to our COVID protocols. They are as follows:

1.) The mask mandate for staff and clients has been lifted. Optional use of masks for protection is encouraged. We ask that if you are not feeling well or have been exposed to COVID please wear a mask while you are in the building to help protect our staff members or if it is not an urgent matter, we'd be happy to help you reschedule your appointment.

2.) To reduce traffic within the clinic, we will ask that clients call when they arrive to their appointment. We will ask that the number of people who accompany the pet be limited to two, unless there are circumstances where children must also come in. In these cases, we will strongly suggest that the client remain curbside and use previously established guidelines.

3.)Checkout will continue to be performed by the technician in the room or the client can be sent to the front desk if the receptionists are available to check them out and there are no other clients in the waiting room area.

4.) Medication and food pickup will remain curbside. Please call when you arrive to pick up.

5.)Technician visits will remain curbside. Clients will continue to be instructed to park in the back of the building and call the clinic. Technician appointment patients will be brought in the door labeled Surgical Drop Off/Pickup Area/Technician Appointment Entrance.

6.) Surgery check-in and discharge will be done inside. The client should park out back near the surgery check-in door and call in so assigned technician can escort them in for paperwork or discharge.

A few housekeeping reminders as well-

1.) If you need to cancel or reschedule an appointment, please give us 24-48 hours so we can have the ability to offer that appointment time to another patient. Please call the office to speak with one of our receptionists or leave a message on our answering machine if we are closed. Please do not email us cancellations or do it through our portal as sometimes those are only checked once a day during the week and not checked on Saturday & Sunday.

2.) Please arrive on time for your pet's appointment. If you are going to be late please call the office to let our staff know. You may have to wait once you arrive or have your appointment rescheduled.

Thank you!

9/17/21

As a reminder to existing clients and new clients:

If we are seeing a patient that is new to the clinic because you have recently adopted a new pet, you are new to the area, you are seeking a 2nd opinion or just looking for a new veterinarian we will request records be forwarded to our clinic no less than 48 hours prior to your scheduled appointment. If we do not have your records within 48 hours of your pets’ scheduled appointment, we will have to reschedule your appointment. When our Doctors receive records for your pet at least 2 days prior to your appointment, it ensures that the Doctor will have ample time to review past history, lab results, recommendations and treatments that have already been done elsewhere. When an owner brings records along to an appointment there is no time for the Doctor to review the records until the patient has already arrived; which will cause the Doctor to run behind schedule for her next patients. Our clinic is currently so busy seeing appointments that our Doctors are reviewing new records before the start of their day and after hours. We ask for your cooperation in this matter so your pet can get the best care possible while also not taking time away from another patient that requires care.

Also, continue to keep in mind:

We are still booking routine appointments out 6+ weeks. Please call to schedule when you get your pet’s first reminder postcard!
Surgeries are booking out about 6+ weeks as well.
Please schedule necessary rechecks at the time of checkout.
When you arrive for an appointment, call the clinic first, please remain in your vehicle with your pet until one of our technicians has come out to get you. Please make sure that cats, birds and small mammals are in a secure carrier. Please check to make sure that the collar or harness on your dog is secure so that they cannot back out of it.
New Clients/New Patients will be asked for a $50 deposit when booking their first appointment. We are hoping that this will help alleviate the influx of “No Show’’ appointments by New Clients/New Patients we’ve had recently.
Please be kind to our staff! Our staff is working extremely hard to take care of every patient that comes through our doors. We ask that you treat them with kindness and compassion otherwise we will ask you to seek care for your pet elsewhere.

New Client/ Patient Deposit Protocol

Due to the number of new client/new patient “No Shows” we've had recently, we have made the decision to take a deposit when booking new clients/new patients. When someone chooses not to show up to an appointment that is taking away an appointment that we could have offered to another patient that needed care. Also, when an appointment is cancelled at the last minute, it does not give the clinic the ability to offer that appointment to another patient in need.
The deposit IS refundable if the client cancels the appointment with more than 48 hours’ notice.
The deposit is NOT refundable if there is a cancellation within 48 hours of scheduled appointment time OR if they simply do not show up.
The $50 deposit will be applied to the balance due at the initial appointment.

We hope that by doing this, it will alleviate any “NO SHOWS” and last minute cancellations so we can provide the best care possible to our patients that really need us!