7.18.2020
Dear patients,
We know these are difficult times for everyone and we hope that you are all safe and getting through this unprecedented situation as best you can.
In April of 2020 as New York City's Covid-19 outbreak was peaking, we closed our offices to in-person consultations to protect our patients and staff. To ensure that our patients were still cared for, we developed a telemedicine program for virtual consultations using video- or telephone-based visits to evaluate and treat both new and existing patients. Our dedicated staff continued to work to answer phones, field questions, arrange tests and make referrals to the best of our ability during the crisis.
From March through May we completed over 2,200 telemedicine consultations from the safety of our and our patients' homes. We are grateful that we could continue to care for our patients remotely and found these virtual visits quite effective for a variety of symptoms and illnesses.
At the end of May our Advanced Endoscopy Center (AEC; https://www.aec-gi.com/) opened for those urgent procedures which had been delayed due to the pandemic. For the next six weeks the AEC slowly and carefully increased its availability while instituting new protections against Covid-19 for both staff and patients. The AEC exceeds all infection control measures as mandated by NYC and N.Y. State, including pre-op Covid-19 testing for all patients undergoing procedures. In June, the State allowed us to resume elective endoscopic procedures and we continue to offer all necessary procedures to our patients in a clean, safe, protected and professional environment which is located outside of a busy hospital setting.
In June we reopened our offices to those patients needing in-person consultations and have continued to offer telemedicine appointments, where appropriate, to reduce unnecessary travel, exposure and congestion. Our high-touch areas are carefully and regularly cleaned; temperature and exposure screenings are performed for all visitors to the office; and unless absolutely needed, friends, family or other patient escorts are not allowed in the waiting rooms. Masks are required by all people entering our offices and social distancing is enforced for all of our safety.
We wish to thank our staff and patients for trusting us to stay with our practice during this crisis. We also remind our patients not to delay investigation of any concerning symptoms, follow up of known conditions or screening colonoscopies and other preventative measures needed to keep healthy. Let's not let the Covid-19 crisis prevent you from receiving the care you need.
Please use our website (https://www.gastroriverdale.
Sincerely,
Drs. Kramer, Tepler, Gotian, Harnik
and the staff of Gastroenterology and Liver Associates of Riverdale
Office Procedure Updates
- Our office is open for in-person and telemedicine appointments
- Telemedicine visits may be done by phone / audio-only or by video chat
- Any patient coming to our office in person will be screened for Covid-19 exposure and symptoms
- A facemask must be worn at all times and a temperature check will occur prior to entry
- Patients should expect to enter our offices alone to allow for social distancing
- Patients undergoing endoscopic procedures (upper endoscopy or colonoscopy) must test negative for Covid-19 within 5 days of their procedures
- Covid-19 testing may be performed by a saliva-based test which does not require nasal or oral swabbing. The test is highly accurate and is processed by our partners at Accurate Diagnostics Laboratory ( https://
accuratediagnosticlabs.com/ index.html). Our staff will give you a collection kit and explain how, when and where to submit it at one of our offices. The sample must be accompanied by a properly labeled and completed requisition form, and must be dropped off on time in the proper location to avoid any cancellation of your procedure.
How to perform your Covid-19 saliva test
Cómo realizar su prueba de saliva Covid-19