Please see below for our latest announcements from Yelm Veterinary Hospital.
Be sure to follow our Facebook and make sure we have your email on file at our hospital to hear most recent updates as they occur!
Question: What is curbside service?
Answer: Curbside service allows us to maintain as much social distancing recommended while still being able to provide quality veterinary medicine to your pet. We ask that you stay in your vehicle, and keep your cell phone handy so we can communicate with you as needed.
Question: Are you staying open?
Answer: Yes we are open! We will continue to monitor and adhere to the guidelines provided by the CDC and WHA, and adjust our "normal daily schedule" as needed. We are providing multiple new services (including curbside, home delivery of medications, etc.) to best meet the requirements!
Question: What services will you not be doing?
Answer: This changes as we learn more information! We strive to provide as much consistency as we can, while being as cautious as we can for the safety of our staff and clients. We will be postponing many elective services and procedures as they are not deemed urgently medically necessary. (Nail trims, Boarding, Elective Surgical Procedures). Please contact our Hospital for more information.
Announcement Update: March 26th, 2021
Dear Pet Parents,
We can’t believe it, but we have now been operating during a pandemic for a year!
As you know, our hospital protocols changed dramatically and, like you, we are eager to resume “normal” operations. However, at this time, we do not have a specific date as to when this will occur. Despite the state’s move into Phase 3, we will continue to provide curbside services for your safety and for the well-being of our team. There are several reasons for this,
1) Our hospital exams rooms are small, and we cannot maintain 6 feet of distance between clients and staff.
2) Our appointments run back-to-back, which often doesn’t allow adequate time to sanitize after clients have visited. Healthcare facilities still have limited access to some forms of PPE, so we do our best to reserve what we can.
3) Not all of our employees have had access to, or been eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. We’d like to see more of our pet parent community receive the vaccination before we open our doors.
4) We don’t want to plan a staged or complete re-opening at the risk that rates of infection peak again. When we fully re-open, we want it to be for good!
We miss seeing you and some of you we have yet to meet face-to-face. The processes we’ve put in place over the course of the year may have changed how we practice veterinary medicine, but our commitment to providing your pets with the best care and attention has not. We know it can be hard to be without your pet during their visit, but we ask for your continued patience and understanding. Our very hard-working, dedicated team will continue to provide you and your pets with a safe and smooth curbside experience.
As Washington businesses move through additional phases of re-opening, we will keep you updated on any potential changes. Until then, stay safe, mask up, and hug your pets.
We will get through this, and we can’t wait to see you on the other side!
Staff & Management of Yelm Veterinary Hospital
Lyn Mitchell
Practice Manager
Announcement Update: March 24th, 2020
Please read the following statement as our services offered may have temporarily changed.
We hope that you are doing well and staying healthy. As many of you are now aware, there have been many confirmed cases of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) in Washington, and information released daily with the best approaches to prevent exposure.
With the above changing facts, we share in your growing concerns surrounding coronavirus across our community and our hearts go out to those who have been impacted. We understand that you may have many questions and we are here to support you as best we can during this time.
We thank you for your continued diligence and patience as we implement policies and procedures to help protect you and our team from possible exposure. We will continue to do our absolute best to continue delivering the quality pet care our hospital desires, in as timely a fashion as is possible under the circumstances.
We’d like to share some information about our newest response to COVID-19, and adjustments will be put into place effective as of March 24th, 2020: The measures we are currently taking will be adjusted as needed;
We will be postponing elective procedures and services: this includes but are not limited to; spays, neuters, dental cleanings, nail trims, anal gland expressions and more if not deemed medically necessary. This will be in effect immediately and will be reevaluated in thirty days. At that point, we will continue to monitor and adhere to regulations and recommendations released by the CDC and Washington Health Authority (WHA). We sincerely apologize if you have any of the above services scheduled and have not yet been notified of the cancellation, we are extremely grateful for your patience during this time as we work to notify all of our clients in as timely a manner as possible on such short notice.
If you, or anyone in your household, are ill or experiencing cold or flu symptoms, we are asking that you refrain coming into Yelm Veterinary Hospital and reschedule your appointment. If your pet is having an emergent medical condition and cannot wait, please call us immediately so that we can handle the situation appropriately.
Our employees have been asked to stay home if they are ill as well. If this disrupts our daily schedule, please be patient with our staff as we attempt to honor and respect your time and get the medical care for your pet as expeditiously as we can.
We are utilizing low-contact service to all our clients for all pet care needs. In an effort to ensure the safety of our staff and clients, all interactions will now be concierge services effective immediately.
Curbside Concierge: Please call the front desk upon arrival to notify us of your arrival at Yelm Veterinary Hospital (360) 458-7707 and identify your vehicle. Verify that your client information is updated, provide the best mobile phone number to be used and that we received a summary of your pet’s recent medical history by email at [email protected] if applicable. A team member will meet you at your parking spot to transport your pet inside the building. At the conclusion of your pet’s exam, our staff will call you via phone to discuss a summary of the visit including treatment authorization, if needed. We will also take payment over the phone and discuss any discharge instructions. We can also email this information to you. At this point, we will transport your pet back to your vehicle.
As we are transporting your pet to/from your vehicle, we ask that you adhere to the following for the safety of your pet;
Dogs: Our team will bring a leash to transport your pet inside. Your leashes/harnesses/collars must then be kept in your possession. If your pet cannot be safely transferred to the clinic your appointment may be rescheduled.
Cats: Must be in a secure carrier with NO personal belongings or blankets. If your pet cannot be safely transferred to the clinic your appointment may be rescheduled.
We strongly encourage payment with card at this time, at which our staff will be able to accept payment over the phone during the time of services provided. We will be happy to email an itemized receipt for your financial records upon request.
To reduce paper and pen handling, all medical records, invoices and receipts will be emailed and not printed.
We will attempt to reach out to you and communicate any necessary changes, this includes any schedule changes we may be forced to make, to work with the staff and doctors we have on any given day.
We realize that given the recommendation to maintain social distancing amidst COVID-19 that this might make it difficult to keep up with your pet’s medications and other related items (pet food, long term medications, preventives and supplements, etc.). As a convenience during the next few weeks or longer, we would like to offer you our home delivery service through our clinic’s online pharmacy. More information is readily available through our website.
We thank you for your cooperation and we wish everyone a safe and healthy day. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Management and Staff
Yelm Veterinary Hospital
Additional Precautions being taken by our staff, these include, but are not limited to;
- Frequent sanitizing of our door handles, counter tops, soft and solid surfaces.
- End of day- all surfaces are sprayed with our sanitizing detergent that kills the human corona virus- this is then left to air dry as it is the most effective way of killing the virus.
- We will continue offering non-elective surgical procedures as deemed medically necessary- all surgery instruments, drapes, etc., are sterile and staff are gowned and wear masks and surgery hats for procedures. We sterilize ALL surgical, dental instruments in an autoclave which steam cleans at a very high heat. The instruments are in sterilized packets and are not opened until the surgery itself.
Announcement Update: March 13th, 2020
