COVID-19 Precautions at CAO

Keeping Our Patients and Staff Safe

As a healthcare provider, CAO is an essential business and has remained open during the coronavirus Public Health Emergency. Throughout the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic, the safety of our employees, patients and visitors has and will continue to remain of utmost priority.

CAO always strives to provide a safe workplace for staff, as well as, a safe and healing environment for patients. Prior to COVID-19 our care centers utilized infection control best practices as part of our standard of care. Patients who have visited us since the pandemic emerged in the region have seen the safety measures we added to our existing protocols. We also integrated Telemedicine for clinic and therapy patients, including support of patient accessibility needs through LanguageLine and TTY, to help stay connected to our patients during this time.

As we see elective surgeries resume and stay-at-home orders lifted, the use of telehealth for patient visits and treatment will continue to be embraced when medically and operationally feasible. However, we seek to accommodate a renewed demand for in-person patient care in the safest way possible for both staff and patients. To accomplish this, we will continue to use additional measures that promote safety for employees, patients, and visitors such as:

• Patient Screening at time of appointment scheduling and upon arrival for office visit
• Requiring patient use of face mask or face covering (can be homemade)
• Placing limits on non-patient visitor volume
• Using social distancing practices such as minimizing time in waiting areas and spacing chairs at least six feet apart.
• Use of face masks or face coverings by employees, especially when in patient care areas
• Staff observance of other applicable infection control protocols

We thank each of our patients for their care and understanding as we have all adapted to a new way of doing things in the wake of COVID-19. As always, we are here to help you with your orthopaedic needs. If the pandemic has kept you away and you have an injury that is of concern please contact your care center to schedule an appointment. We are doing everything we can to keep you and our team members safe. We continue to request that you contact your CAO location to reschedule your appointment if you:

1. Have experienced any of the symptoms of coronavirus within the last two weeks: Fever, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, new loss of taste or smell;
2. Have returned from or had close contact with someone who has returned from international, domestic or high-risk travel within the last two weeks;
3. Tested positive for or been exposed to someone with COVID-19.

Everyone can take precautions against the spread of Coronavirus including these from the CDC:

• Washing your hands frequently
• Avoiding close contact
• Covering your mouth and nose with a cloth face cover when around others (Please note, in Maryland cloth face coverings are required in public places by Executive Order of the Governor.)
• Cover coughs and sneezes
• Clean and disinfect

For more about these measures and other information on COVID-19, please visit the CDC website here.