What is COVID-19? COVID-19 is a respiratory illness that has flu-like symptoms, including coughing, fever, sore throat and difficulty breathing. According to the CDC, the following symptoms may appear 2 to 14 days of exposure:

• Fever
• Cough
• Shortness of breath

What to do if you have symptoms If you believe you may have been exposed to Coronavirus, please call us first at 253-848-5951 for an initial screening process prior to coming in. If you have the following symptoms: fever, cough, shortness of breath, the best action is to follow CDC’s recommendations and self-quarantine. If you have severe symptoms, particularly difficulty in breathing, we recommend you go to the nearest Emergency Room to get emergency care. Please protect others in your household by doing the following:

• Stay home except to get medical care.
• Separate yourself from other people and animals in your home.
• Wear a face mask when in close contact with others.
• Cover your cough and sneezes.
• Wash your hands often, using this World Health Organization protocol.
• Avoid sharing household items.
• Clean all high touch surfaces every day
• Monitor your symptoms – seek prompt medical attention if your illness is worsening especially if you have difficulty breathing.

Sound Family Medicine’s Protocols and Care Options Our staff are highly trained. We have established protocols for identifying, isolating, and caring for patients with contagious diseases. To maintain social distancing and safety, we offer additional services due to current circumstances:

• When you visit our locations, you will be pre-screened at the door.
• Please wear a mask when you visit our clinics and keep it on at all times to keep our staff safe.
• Depending on the type of care needed, we accommodate your visit/appointment through a car visit, or a telephone visit.

Walk-in Clinic Visits and Scheduled Appointments at our Clinics:

• We are pre-screening our patients at the door to protect our patients and staff.
• On our doors, you will find our Front Desk backline for the particular location you are visiting. Please call that number to check-in for your visit and our staff will pre-screen you over the phone.
• After checking in and being pre-screened, please wait in your car.
• Depending on your care concern, your visit may be switched to a car visit where your provider will come out to your car to complete the visit.
• If your provider determines your visit/appointment should still occur in an exam room, you will only be called when the exam room is ready for you. There is no need to wait in our waiting room/lobby.
• Please know that we sanitize and disinfect every exam room after every patient visit, and our waiting room/lobby every hour.

If you have a scheduled appointment at our clinics, and would prefer a telehealth video visit instead:

• Please inform us at the time of scheduling that you want your appointment to be a telephone visit instead.
• At the time of your appointment, if it is scheduled as a telephone/telehealth visit, your provider will call you.

For prescription-refill requests:

• Prescription-refill appointments can often be done through a telephone visit. Please inform us at the time of scheduling that your purpose is for prescription-refills and you want this to be scheduled as a telephone visit.
• Please note that some prescriptions may require an in-person visit or lab work. Your provider will have additional directions during your telephone visit should lab work will be needed.
• Our walk-in labs follow the same protocol of pre-screening at the door and waiting in the car.

Please limit the number of people you bring with you during your appointment.

• As part of our efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19, we ask that you do not bring guests with you to our clinics. While we make every effort to keep our waiting areas clean and sanitary, limiting the number of people in our spaces is an important prevention strategy. Thank you for understanding.

We will continue to provide the care that you need Please know we care about you and want to address your concerns. With special protocols in place to protect our patients and staff, our providers and care team continue to provide care you need. We continue to pay close attention to each update from the Pierce County Health Department, the Washington State Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regarding COVID-19. We are proud to care for east Pierce County communities, and amidst this outbreak, we continue to work diligently to provide your wellness, maternity, pediatrics, and acute concerns as safely as possible.