We have all experienced challenges in the past few months and PPH is no different. We will continue to offer curbside services until further notice, as we feel this is the best way to provide care for our patients while keeping our staff healthy. If our staff do not remain healthy, we may have to close our doors, which has happened at 4 other vet clinics, including one that closed for good. This would be devastating to our team and more importantly for your pet’s healthcare needs.
We understand some other businesses (but not vet clinics) are allowing folks inside. Unfortunately, this is not realistic for our services and all our adjustments for you entering the building would eliminate at least 8-12 appt per day. We cannot practice adequate social distancing in our exam rooms, so we would take your pet to the treatment area anyway. Appt times would need to be extended. Extra time to disinfect between every appt and also use up cleaning supplies when we are already limited in supply.
Please take a moment to thank our technicians. All our team members are working their tails off (pun intended). Every staff member has continued to work full time, with more overtime than ever before. They have worked extended hours over lunch and on Saturdays in order to catch up pets with overdue appt. Every day is booked at max capacity for one doctor, and then we add in same day urgent appts, and also admit those that we can’t fit into a specific appt time. We treat your pets the same way we would in your presence (except we may love and kiss on them and speak in high squeaky voices a bit more unprofessionally, if you can’t hear us).
To those clients that have been patient, we sincerely appreciate it. Some clients have sent us treats and food, which makes our busy days that much sweeter! Our calls have increased almost 300%, with the same number of phone lines & staff. Because of this, it is not unusual for all our phone lines to be in use at once. You may end up on hold, hear a busy signal, or get our voice mail over our lunch hour. Many of you have taken to our PetDesk App or texted/emailed in order to communicate, and this works well to get your non-urgent message through.
Our team members are truly the heroes these days, and deserve to feel that way! Please know that we WILL NOT continue to tolerate poor behavior towards our staff. All of us, including doctors, have been on the receiving end of this unacceptable behavior. Our staff have been subjected to verbal abuse on the phone and in the parking lot, almost daily, for 3 months. We have tolerated this, knowing the world has been in distress. But, in the past 3 weeks, this behavior has accelerated and they do not deserve any of it. The negative comments/reviews that we have received due to “long wait times” or “ridiculous that you’re taking this so seriously” or “I demand to speak to the vet” will not get you anywhere. We love our patients, we love our jobs, and we’re doing everything we can to accommodate everyone; it does not feel good to feel unappreciated.
In these uncertain and frustrating times, please give our staff some grace, as we do for you. Do not take your frustrations out on them. We are asking for extra patience. Your wait times may be longer. Our doctors often cannot return phone calls nor authorize prescription refills till end of day, and sometimes not until the next day. Every one of our certified veterinary technicians are all fully capable of answering your questions and scheduling your appointments – yelling at them & asking them to “just check with the vet” will only delay helping you, takes doctor time from patients, and is disrespectful to our highly qualified & educated staff.
Thank you for your continued patience & trust of our team members.
Sincerely,
Dr. Kramer & Dr. Guedet
