Is Physical Therapy an Essential Service?
As the situation with COVID-19 has continued to progress and evolve, many of you are aware that Washington State has implemented a "Stay at Home" order for what are considered non-essential activities. Outpatient rehabilitation, like Physical Therapy, IS considered by Washington State to be an essential healthcare service that has been permitted to continue operations in order to keep patients healthy and out of hospital and emergency room settings as much as possible. This alleviates the burden on those essential services which are currently being stressed with the COVID-19 response, and helps keep physical therapy patients in a lower risk environment for catching a serious illness.
What Precautions are We Taking to Keep Our Patients Safe in the Clinic?
Here at Active Life Physical Therapy, we genuinely care about our patients and want what is best for you. To that end, we are doing our utmost to keep you safe. We are limiting the number of people in our facility at any given time, we have arranged our waiting room seating to abide by social distancing recommendations, and we are disinfecting chairs, door handles, clipboards, pens, and equipment between patients. Our providers are now wearing masks as a precautionary measure, since it is not always possible to observe social distancing recommendations during treatment. Additionally, if a patient or someone they are in close contact with is showing any sign of illness, we are rescheduling that patient for a future date.
Should You Come in for Your Appointment?
If you or someone you are in close contact with is showing signs of illness, please contact our clinic to reschedule your appointment for a future date. If you are in a high-risk category, or are feeling very anxious about exposure to the public at this time, we understand wanting to stay at home. If you have doubts about whether you should come to your scheduled appointment, please call the clinic ahead of time. For those of you who are not showing signs of illness, and who depend on physical therapy for your pain management and/or progress in regaining proper function and mobility, we would encourage you to keep your appointments. We want you to improve, not regress, even in these unusual times.
Tips for Homebound Patients:
If you are unable to come in for your appointments, please keep up with your home exercise program! And please contact us if you have concerns or difficulties with your current exercises. Some muscle pain with your exercises is normal, but significant pain is not. Our providers are here to answer your questions and advise you.
Here are some additional web resources:
Home Exercise Tips:
COVID-19 Resources:
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