PLEASE READ CAREFULLY!
To all of our patients at Ballantyne Medical Associates, we want to thank you, your family, and your friends for entrusting your health to us. We value our relationship with you and during these rapidly changing, stressful, and uncertain times we want to assure you that we will do everything we can to protect your health and the health of our community.
With confirmed COVID-19 infection now in Charlotte, NC, the purpose of this e-mail is to update you on how Ballantyne Medical Associates is working to prevent the spread of the coronavirus for both our patients and our employees. The health and well-being of the BMA Family and all the patients we have developed relationships with during our service to the Ballantyne Community over these past 13 years are of the utmost importance to us.
In light of this Novel CoronaVirus ( COVID-19) pandemic, we are taking the following additional measures to stop the spread of this highly contagious virus in an attempt to minimize, as much as possible, any disruption to the routine and regular medical care of all of our patients:
- Sanitizing treatment tables, exam rooms, otoscopes, ophthalmoscopes, door handles, and keyboards after every patient visit with a special antiviral solution.
- Asking our employees to stay home if they have ANY respiratory illness symptoms.
- Rapidly triaging patients that present with respiratory illness symptoms to quickly remove them from common patient waiting areas.
- More frequent anti-viral sanitization of patient waiting areas.
- Deploying a telemedicine / virtual visit platform to triage and treat patients remotely.
- Redirecting any and all respiratory illness patients to our Walk-In / Rapid Access Clinic. This will allow our main office to continue to safely evaluate and treat common chronic medical conditions such as: Diabetes, hypertension, asthma, COPD, hyperlipidemia, weight loss, opioid use disorder, attention deficit disorder, depression, anxiety, insomnia, chronic pain syndrome, HIV disease, thyroid disease, and hormone replacement therapy to name a few.
- Suspending the scheduling of occasional, episodic, routine medical appointments at the Walk-In Location until further notice.
- Fast-tracking all of our Research patients through a separate main entrance, bypassing our waiting room, and moving directly into our Research Clean Room.
- Extending the hours and appointment availability of our IV Hydration Clinic to better help high-risk patients confront and recently ill patients recover from illness.
We are in regular communication with the NC Dept. of Health and Human Services and the Center for Disease Control to stay up to date on the latest and most current day-to-day COVID-19 information. Patients are encouraged to frequently monitor CORONAVIRUS.GOV for the latest up-to-date information on this National Emergency.
IMPORTANT: If you HAVE respiratory illness symptoms AND have traveled recently from outside the country in an area with sustained community transmission of COVID-19 OR had close household contact, within the past 14 days, with a person confirmed positive for COVID-19 you are considered HIGH RISK!!! Access our Virtual Visit / Telemedicine portal as soon as you can for guidance and treatment recommendations from one of our providers. Do not proceed to either office, urgent care, or a hospital emergency room unless you are in need of immediate emergency treatment. This will help contain this virus.
Thank you for being a part of the BMA Family and entrusting us with your care. We are committed to keeping you, your family, close contacts, and our community healthy!
Be Well!
Respectfully,
Dr. Bauer and all the doctors, physician assistants, research coordinators, clinical staff, and administrative staff of BALLANTYNE MEDICAL ASSOCIATES, PLLC
