Our Current COVID Protocols: July 2021
Better Together Family Therapy is committed to the health and safety of our clients, staff, contractors, and colleagues. We established a comprehensive Infectious Illness Response and Preparedness plan last spring, and have been monitoring the Montgomery County COVID-19 data dashboard and CDC data since.
Things are looking GREAT in Montgomery County as of July 2021, with the CDC reporting that 80% of those over the age of 12 are fully vaccinated. We are excited to see that community spread of COVID-19 also continues to decrease in the area surrounding our Kensington office.
But it’s summer. Staff and clients are taking much needed vacations. Sometimes to areas that aren’t winning the battle against COVID quite yet.
We’re updating our COVID protocols in a few simple ways to keep everyone safe during summer travel season. While ensuring that clients can be seen in the office as often as possible.
Here’s what our staff are doing differently:
Staff were previously required to serve clients only via telehealth for 10 days after returning from travel. This requirement is now waived for staff who have traveled to states whose most recent state profile report shows a community transmission rate of LOW or a vaccination rate of 70% or higher among the adult population of the state.
Staff may also now choose to 1) obtain a negative PCR test within 5 days of resuming in person services OR 2) provide only telehealth services for 7 days after returning from travel to areas with higher community spread and/or lower vaccination rates.
What clients should do:
Continue to schedule your session as telehealth if you have traveled in the past week to an area with moderate or higher community spread or a less than 70% vaccination rate among adults. If you have attended in person sessions, you already signed a consent agreeing to do this. You no longer have to do this if traveling within Maryland or to other states with LOW community transmission or a 70% vaccination rate among adults. Clients may also substitute a negative PCR test after travel for the 7 day waiting period. The test must be taken within 5 days of your appointment date.
What else has changed?
Masks are no longer required in the common areas of our building. However, masks are still required in our offices. This layer of protection helps ensure that the risk of transmission within our office is minimal, regardless of people’s travel or vaccination histories.
Books are also back in our waiting room! Data has shown that COVID-19 is transmitted person to person, rather than by touching contaminated surfaces. If you have concerns about sharing books with others, you are welcome to leave the books untouched during your visit or wipe them down before use.
Please let us know here if you have questions or concerns.
Returning to in person play therapy, child therapy, and teen therapy.
We remain in Stage 3: Online and in-person sessions available. The choice to see your therapist online or in person is yours, with certain exceptions and responsibilities including those mentioned above. Consent for in-person sessions is required, and includes a commitment to stay home if you are ill. Decisions to conduct sessions by telehealth or in person will be made jointly by client and therapist, taking into consideration the following factors
Clinical appropriateness of telehealth sessions for the client.
Risk and potential benefit of in person sessions.
Client’s ability to take preventative measures while in the office.
Travel patterns of the client and therapist and those with whom they reside. This does mean that your next session might be online when you or your therapist returns from vacation, depending on where you went.
Keeping our Kensington office safe (and fun) for counselors, therapists, and client families
OSHA Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19 recommends 3 levels of prevention to limit the spread of SARS-CoV2, with personal protective equipment to be used as a last line of defense after engineering controls and administrative controls are implemented. The offices of Better Together Family Therapy, located at 3720 Farragut Ave. Suite 301, are currently using the following engineering and administrative controls to minimize risk of infectious illness:
Minimizing Person to Person Contact and Shared Materials
Masks are still required in the office and waiting room. This protects our child clients who are too young to be vaccinated.
Staff and contractors are required to wash hands before, between, and after client sessions.
Clients are required to wash hands before entering their therapy sessions.
Hand washing instructions are posted at the office sink.
Signs depicting correct hand washing and other prevention measures are posted in the waiting room.
Tape lines have been installed on the floor of the waiting room to mark a 6 foot distance from sitting areas.
The waiting room has been rearranged to improve social distancing and waiting room use is limited to 2 families at a time.
Items that cannot be sanitized such as thinking putty, and moon sand have been removed from the office. Soft toys have been removed from the waiting room.
Books remain in the therapy rooms for handling by therapist only.
Sanitizing of Shared Materials and Enclosed Spaces
Offices are cleaned daily (each working day) with sanitizing products.
Play materials are sanitized after each use.
Soft surfaces (couches, beanbags) and hard surfaces (doorknobs, tables, chairs) are sanitized at the end of each day.
High capacity air cleaners with HEPA filters and UV-C light have been installed in the waiting area and hallway, with 2 additional units on hand for therapy rooms.
Sanitizing wipes, hand sanitizer, and tissues are provided in the waiting room for client use.
Spare single use masks are on hand in adult and child sizes.
In office therapy sessions will end on time to enable sanitizing to occur.
Illness and Wellness Policies
Clients are required to cancel their in-person sessions or replace them with telehealth sessions if they are feeling ill, or have an elevated body temperature (above 99 degrees), cough, or shortness of breath.
Staff and contractors are required to complete a screening form prior to resuming in-person therapy services during the COVID-19 crisis.
Staff and contractors are required to remain out of the office if they have a fever above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, cough, or other signs of respiratory illness during the COVID-19 crisis.
Staff may use their sick and safe leave to enable them to stay home when ill.
Contractors operate as independent professionals and are always free to take time off for illness or any other reason.
Staff and contractors are required to remain out of the office when they or a member of their household is suspected of having COVID-19 and for 14 days following that person’s full recovery.
Staff and contractors may provide client services via telehealth if they are experiencing symptoms that prevent them from coming to the office or have a household member with COVID-19 but are feeling well enough to work.
If a case of COVID-19 occurs among staff or clients who have been at the office, we are prepared to respond quickly and efficiently
Before coming to the office, clients and staff will complete consent forms requiring immediate report of suspected exposure to SARS-CoV2 or COVID-19 to the practice Director. Reports can be made by telephone at 240-242-5185 or via this form.
Staff and clients who may have been in the office concurrent with or immediately after someone who is suspected of having COVID-19 will be alerted promptly.
The office will be closed briefly for a deep cleaning when a suspected case of COVID-19 occurs among clients or staff who have been at the office.
In person and online therapy is available in/from our Kensington office!
If you are a current client, please talk we your therapist about your preferences for in-person or telehealth sessions. To schedule a first appointment, contact us here.