East Bay Pediatrics is now up and running for Telemedicine visits! These visits can help keep you in touch with your doctor and ideally out of the emergency room. Please review these guidelines for Telemedicine visits:
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• Call our office to set up a visit. (925) 254-9203 option 6. A nurse will triage your call and schedule your visit with the doctor. In a few cases, the nurse may ask you to make an in-person visit. (see 3/16/20 announcement)
• Check if you have the right AV equipment. You need a computer, tablet, or phone which has audio and video capability. If you do not have such a device, we can also schedule a telephone (voice only) visit.
• Make sure you are on the Patient Portal and Give consent. You will receive a portal message with instructions on how to login to the visit and with a request for your consent to the visit online or by phone. If you are not on the Patient Portal, we will set you up!
• We will bill your insurance. State regulations state that Telemedicine visits should be paid by your insurance company the same as in-person visit. You may incur the same co-pay or deductible charge for the visit as you would with an in-person visit.

We continue to have only well visits in Orinda and only sick visits in Berkeley. You may be asked to reschedule your visit to fit these criteria.

To our patients and families:

During this time of pandemic, East Bay Pediatrics would like to assure you that your care providers are still available to you. Unlike our schools and other businesses, East Bay Pediatrics will not close due to coronavirus (COVID-19). We have some instructions from public health and the CDC on how to conduct visits at an outpatient practice like East Bay Pediatrics, but the situation is changing quickly so we are constantly reassessing to make sure we are following the latest guidelines. We have taken several steps to protect our patients, families and staff. Please see the post from March 10, 2020 for information about how we are keeping our offices clean.

We ask that you follow some simple steps to help us take the best care of your child and all of our patients in the safest way possible.

• If possible, do not just drop-in. During this time, we prefer to triage and schedule patients in order to decrease the risk of exposure.
• Please call (925) 254-9203, option 6 (during business hours) for sick appointments. Sick visits, in particular those with fever and cough will only be seen from 8:00am to 10:00am in both locations. 10:00am to 10:30am will be reserved for thorough cleaning of the entire office.
• Limit the number of caretakers who come into the office. In particular, do not have those at higher risk (grandparents, those with other medical problems) come with your child.
• Be prepared to have a phone visit with your doctor. If your child is sick and you are unable to come between 8:00am to 10:00am, you may be scheduled as a phone visit. Please make sure that you have a reliable phone number for us to reach you. We will do our best to notify you if the physician is running late.
• Be prepared to have your child’s well visit time moved. We would like our patients to still be able to get their vaccinations on time. Well visits will only be scheduled between 10:30am to 4:30pm. Please be patient as we work to reschedule some well appointments.
• You may be asked to send in your insurance information via the patient portal. This will decrease the need to pass cards back and forth when you are in the office and speed up the check in process.

As we continually hear about updates regarding COVID-19 through the press, East Bay Pediatrics would like to reassure our families that our practice is monitoring the situation and working to keep you and our employees safe. Although COVID-19 can cause fever, cough, respiratory distress and even death, most people who contract the illness will recover. Fortunately for our patients, children are less likely to have severe symptoms compared to adults. 

At this point, we encourage families to focus on practicing good habits which can decrease the spread of colds, flu, and most likely COVID-19 as well:
 

• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds and disinfect objects and surfaces that are touched.
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
• Try to cough into your elbow, and if you sneeze into a tissue throw it away and then wash your hands.
• Get an annual influenza vaccine.
• If you are sick, in particular with fever, stay home. 

As with any other respiratory illness, if your child is in respiratory distress, call us to help you decide what to do next. Respiratory distress may present as faster breathing or increased work of breathing. Infants may not be able to sleep or feed well or in severe cases may be lethargic. Older children may have difficulty talking and also appear lethargic. 

East Bay Pediatrics would like to remind our patients who have traveled to China or other at-risk areas between December 2019 and now to alert us when we see or talk to you about your child having cold and flu-like symptoms. If you are planning to travel, the CDC website should have up to date information on travel recommendations. If you are interested in monitoring new developments about COVID-19, we recommend the following reliable sources:

• CDC https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/summary.html
• AAP Healthy Children: https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/chest-lungs/Pages/2019-Novel-Coronavirus.aspx
• Centers for Disease Control: How to Wash Your Hands: https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/when-how-handwashing.html
• Public Health: Alameda County: http://www.acphd.org/ and Contra Costa County: https://cchealth.org/public-health/