Many pregnant women who are expecting are wondering what will happen if their ob-gyn’s office closes for good or temporarily closes due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Also, with many physicians limiting the number of patients they’re allowing to come in, which removes the ability to schedule an in-person, non-urgent consultation, patients are worrying if they will still have access to the same care they enjoyed before. However, by changing in-person meetings to over-the-phone meetings, physicians are adapting to the crisis and caring for their patients’ health care needs. Changing appointments that don’t need ultrasounds to virtual or phone meetings will help hundreds of thousands of patients stay safe as we collectively weather this storm.
Dr. Helliwell, MD, FACOG, FACS, FAACS, and Board Certified OB/GYN at Advanced Women’s Health Center, understands that many pregnancy consultations and checkups mainly require answering questions and listening to the patients concerns. Appointments early on during pregnancy are often all about physicians making sure their patients have the answers they need, which is why they can turn those kinds of appointments into over-the-phone appointments.
Nevertheless, if a patient isn’t feeling well or something is wrong, they should contact their physician right away and see what their current scheduling/ hours of operation are/ how their services have altered, if at all. If a patient is experiencing an emergency, they should call 911.
Dr. Helliwell and Dr. Kaneen are prepared to care for their patients during these uncertain times. As a matter of fact, they are allowing virtual, over-the-phone visits. Call Advanced Women’s Health Center today and ask if your physician can schedule a remote consult rather than an in-person meeting if you have a non-urgent need.
These changes and social limitations can seem scary, but doctors around the world are only trying to minimize their patiences’ chances of catching the virus on top of handling whatever health care issues or needs they may already be monitoring.
