Hey Everyone,

Cleaning Regimen & Appointment Protocol

As I'm sure you're getting used to seeing, we have adopted an intensified cleaning regimen and changed up our appointment protocol for everyone's safety and comfort. Details are below.

Before booking, please note that we are not able to see you for an in-house appointment if you have any of the following: 

• runny nose ( this is the most common symptom of the omicron variant)

• sore throat

• headache with or following any cold symptoms

• fever, chills, or body aches

• cough

• sneezing

• teary eyes

• loss of taste or smell

• heavy breathing

• acute onset of diarrhea or vomiting

• Close contact with a person known/suspected to be infected with COVID-19 within the past 14 days.

To bring the most safety, ease, and the deepest level of care, read on for our current protocol for visiting us in Berwyn:

Whether you are Vaccinated, Boostered, or Unvaccinated please follow the following:

• You and your practitioner MUST both be wearing masks that fully cover your nose & mouth the entire time you are at Village Wellness - unless instructed otherwise by a practitioner.

  • N95 or KN95 or equivilant are preferred

  • If you use a cloth or paper mask - we recommend double masking

• Clean your hands when you enter Village Wellness with hand sanitizer

• Be mindful of surfaces you touch

• We are limiting patient visits to give us ample time to sterilize and clean between patients

• Appointments will be pre-paid online as there will be no receptionist and limited exchange of money in the office

Tele-medicine is still going strong

We're here to support you and help keep you well. 

To Schedule your in-house or telemedicine session please use our new online booking system

In-House Cleaning Regimen

This is our in-house cleaning protocol. I wouldn’t usually share this information with the public, however i think it will help our patients feel more at ease knowing exactly what we are doing. So here it is…:

Seeing Patients

In order to see patients/clients at Village Wellness at this time each practitioner must agree to all of the following for the safety of our community.

• Patients— and practitioners— are to wear face masks at all times, even when prone-  using the face cradle.  Note: We have high-quality 4-layer (with paper filter pocket), reusable masks for sale for $5. Made by Siubhan.  (they can leave cash/check in the cash box - or we can send them an invoice to pay online)

• The day will begin and end with a completed Cleaning-Loop. See Cleaning, below.

• Our bathroom will always have paper towels and disinfectant (Smart) spray.

• Fresh linens, as always, for each patient: we now have paper face cradle covers in addition to cloth.  

• Face cradles are a point of high contact (fluids from eyes, mouth, nose and sweat can bleed through) and should be sprayed prior to placing cloth and paper covers.  

• No more top blankets, table paper rolls or paper drapes can be used if needed.

• Half-sheets (we’ve cut some sheets for this purpose) are in the linen closet to the left for patients to place discarded clothing, keys etc., ask them to please **not expand** beyond the sheet. Drape the sheet over the couch in the purple room or one of the chairs in the green and middle rooms.   Table paper can also be used to minimize laundry.  

• Our front door is to remain locked at all times. 

• Patients should not be sitting in our front room.  

• Text or call your patient when it is time for them to come in.

• Patients must present at our door with their face-mask ON.

• Quick check-in about COVID before they enter—to make sure that they still feel well and nothing has changed since making their appointment etc.

• A big bottle of hand sanitizer will always be present and obvious in the front room.

• Patient will remove and leave shoes in our front room.

• Patient will proceed to their treatment room-—there is no more waiting area to sit.

• Ideally patient gets right up onto table - unless it is a new patient.

• When your session is finished, show your client to the front door and let them out.

• Lock the front door after them.

• Complete the Cleaning-Loop. See Cleaning, below.

• Change the treatment room table linens and place a new half-sheet; please take care to minimize your contact with soiled linens and place them in shower laundry bin. 

• Freshen the air by opening windows whenever and wherever possible.

• Avoid touching your hair or face by securing loose hair that might fall forward and by replacing loose eye wear that is prone to sliding down the nose while working. Use lens cleaning cloths to remove germs. 

Cleaning 

The basic Cleaning Loop is from the front door to the treatment rooms, including the bathroom. Additionally, at the beginning and end of each day, the Cleaning-Loop is expanded to include items that we would be touching to open and close VW.

We are keeping it simple, 70% alcohol bottles with inserted spray nozzles. You can just spray and let dry (no-wiping is actually recommended). Alcohol spray allows for the cleaning of unusual items such as ear buds and their wires, for example, and can also be used to clean our phone screens etc., but nothing higher than 70% should be used or screen-coatings can become damaged. Conversely, nothing lower than 60% should be used as it is not effective against COVID-19.

Before and After Each Patient

• Front door handle - outside

• Front door handle - inside, to include the area around the handle, i.e., the surrounding glass and metal frame. Folks don’t always use the handle, this was true pre-covid and certainly true now. 

• Treatment room door handles inside and out

• Bathroom door hardware, inside and out

• Toilet handle

• Toilet lid where one would place hand to open it (we are advised to keep lids closed for COVID).

• Shower door handle

• Generous spraying of the bathroom faucet hardware as it has ridges and an underside

• Both staircase RAILINGS (the small first floor one with three steps and the big staircase leading to the second floor)

Beginning and end-of-day Cleaning-Loop expands to include: 

• back door hardware, inside and out.

• refrigerator door handle

• kitchen faucet handle

• hot water pot handle

• microwave handle and buttons

• toaster handle and buttons

• kitchen cabinet door “handles” (are we going to continue to use the kitchen in the same way?? )

• Ipads and phones, front, back and SIDES

• laptops— the outsides, and the keyboard 

• Lights and lamp switches, and ipods, and music-equipment on-and-off buttons etc.

• the lighter ignition device for candles

• temperature thermostat buttons

• trim on window treatments where we’d touch to open or close them

• if you were to pull the curtain on the first floor, you’d want to wash or sanitize your hands first

• the handle of the door going down to the basement 

• Hand sanitizer pumps

• Sharps containers

• Anything else you happen to touch

K.I.S.S.

70% Alcohol with spray nozzles, paper towels, big bottles of visible hand sanitizer, masks, always-fresh linens and half-sheets, outside air wherever possible (but don’t open the front door) and cleaning routines are the way of it, for now.