To Our Valued Clients,
Our top priority is to provide exceptional care to our patients while safeguarding our staff and our community. We continue to maintain our regular business hours and we are available to see you and your pets for essential veterinary health care services.
We have been monitoring the COVID-19 situation closely and want to notify you of changes we are making at Avonlea Animal Hospital for the welfare of our staff, clients and patients. We have taken great care to implement safeguards to help reduce the spread of this virus.
Amended Procedures:
- The doors to the hospital will be closed to the public
- Visitors to the hospital must remain outside the hospital. This includes walk-ins, appointments and food/prescription purchases.
- We will no longer accept cash or in-person payment.
- We will continue to accept Visa and Mastercard by phone. We have added Interac e-Transfer plus Amex, debit, PayPal, Visa and Mastercard via an online PayPal form:
- https://avonleaanimalhospital.ca/online-payments/
- Admittance
- A copy of our admittance and discharge instructions and patient history forms will be sent to you prior to the scheduled appointment.
- Please remain in your vehicle and call us when you arrive in the parking lot.
- We will assess your Covid-19 risk using the “patient screening pathway”.
- When we are ready, we will motion for you to bring your pet from your vehicle to the clinic door. All dogs must be on leash and cats must be in carriers.
- The veterinarian will call at the end of the examination or video conference you during the examination to discuss examination findings and recommendations.
- Discharge
- You will be emailed a copy of the invoice including home notes.
- Payment will be taken over the phone, via Interac e-Transfer, or online.
- Any medication or items to be picked up will be given in a plastic bag at the time of discharge.
- We will call you when we are ready for discharge at which time you will collect your pet outside of the clinic.
- Food, inventory and medication pickup
- All items can be ordered over the phone or purchased using our online shop https://shop.avonleaanimalhospital.ca
- For pickup, we will bring the items to you outside the clinic.
- We will not be performing fit-n-fury, birthday exams, nail trims, routine dentals and non-essential surgeries until further advised. You will receive a call if your appointment is affected by this policy.
Product availability
We have been in constant contact with the suppliers and manufacturers responsible for ensuring our hospitals have sufficient supply of veterinary diets and over the counter products, and we do not anticipate any disruption to this supply. However, instances of buying large quantities of these products have strained the supply chain. We respectfully request that our clients limit their purchases of these products to immediate need plus one month’s supply to ensure all clients and patients have access to these products.
Our goal is to keep our essential services available to the communities we serve and to be there for you and your pets. Thank you for your cooperation and for doing your part in helping to keep pets and people safe. Please do not hesitate to call with questions. We anticipate our phone lines will be busier than usual and we thank you in advance for your patience!
Sincerely,
Don Cocca
Hospital Administrator