Dear Patients & Families

UPDATE: 30th APRIL 2020 – CARA ORTHODONTICS RESPONSE PROCESS TO ALERT LEVEL 4 FOR COVID-19

On Thursday, the 23rd of April 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his address to our nation categorised the nationwide lockdown into 5 alert levels. Owing to the general public’s exceptional compliance and the favourable results that the lockdown has achieved, President Ramaphosa has changed the lockdown category from Level 5 to Level 4 as of the 1st of May 2020.  We are therefore allowed to re-open our office on Monday, the 4th of May 2020 (as 1st of May is a public holiday).

Level 5 meant that drastic measures were required to contain the spread of the Coronavirus. Our practice and you our wonderful patients complied with these regulations very well. We are very appreciative of this.

Level 4 means that some activity can be allowed to resume, subject to extreme precautions required to limit community transmission and outbreaks.

We are extremely mindful of this and we have been working very hard behind the scenes on new logistical, structural and procedural changes in anticipation of seeing our family of patients soon. You will notice many changes when next you visit us, all made to improve and make our environment even more safer.

We have been creating protocols for all our different procedures and we will be bringing our staff back prior to the 4th of May for training and role-playing in preparation for all of these new developments.

We will be completely re-doing our entire appointment schedule with these processes in mind. It is extremely important to note that we cannot return to our normal May 2020 appointment schedule. Most of you will be contacted by the 4th of May to have your appointment rescheduled. If for some reason, we do not get in touch with you by the 4th of May 2020, please call or email us and we will assist you. We request that you do not come to our office without an appointment. We also request of you to continue to maintain excellent oral health and continue to follow the instructions which we initially gave to you.

There will be a new normal procedure at our rooms. We are guided by the South African Dental Association, the South African Society of Orthodontists and Government regulations. We will be adhering to detailed health and safety protocols to protect you our patients and our staff and families. These plans are put in place to enable disease surveillance and prevent spread of infection.

Entering the practice will be regulated with individual patient screening (medical history update, temperature reading, hand sanitiser etc.). Social distancing will be emphasized in reception and we will request that only one parent accompany the patient to our office, both of whom will be required to wear a mask. Patients and parents must not wear gloves please. The accompanying parent will also need to be screened. Only the patient will be allowed into the clinical treatment room. We request, if at all possible, that the parent remains in the car. Follow up appointments will be spread over a slightly longer interval and these appointments can be made by the patient at reception or telephonically or by email.

Please be aware of these changes and please share this newsletter and information with your family members, friends and colleagues.

We are constantly providing updates on @caraorthodontics on Facebook, Instagram and our Website on www.caraorthodontics.co.za

Please follow us on these various platforms for the updates.

The landscape involving the COVID-19 pandemic is evolving and changing rapidly and we will continue to update our media platforms with relevant information for the families in our practice as developments occur, so please check frequently for updates.

I must thank all of you for your patience and respect during this very uncertain time. Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do.

Please take care of yourself and family. Continue to comply with our governmental regulations just as judiciously as you have during Level 5 to assist our country to progress to Level 3.

Together we will make a difference. Together we will beat COVID-19

Blessings,

DR SHARAD CARA