Dear Dogwood Pet Hospital friends,
Thank you for your patience. We spent 40 years developing the way we deliver client services, then had to throw that out the window this March. For the immediate future, and likely at least through the end of this year, we will continue to allow only essential staff members inside the hospital building with the exception of humane euthanasia appointments. The decisions that we make are not made lightly. We would like to share several factors that have come into play while making this decision.
The safety of our staff, our patients and our clients
is our top priority. We will always choose the safest option even when it is not the easiest option.
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If a COVID-19 outbreak were to occur within the hospital we could be closed for an unspecified amount of time. This would leave our patients without access to veterinary care. Veterinary hospitals nationwide are booked out for several weeks at a time as practices attempt to reschedule months of delayed routine services and procedures. Even our usual emergency clinics that we recommend are seeing clients wait times of 2-6 hours or longer. Many practices are not taking in new patients. If we are closed, our patients and our clients would have an extremely hard time accessing care elsewhere. We are doing everything that we can to mitigate that risk in order to continue providing care.
| We understand that Oregon is beginning to open back up, and that businesses are trying to do so as safely as possible. Please understand that there is no way for our doctors and staff to effectively or safely social distance in an enclosed exam room with you and your pet. | We are advised to continue curbside service by:
| - The American Veterinary Medical Association
- The Oregon Veterinary Medical Asociation
- The American Animal Hospital Association
- The Oregon Public Health Veterinarian
- The Oregon Veterinary Medical Examining Board
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 | We have strict guidelines for our team that we are able to monitor. We are not able to easily monitor or mandate policies for other individuals that would be coming into the hospital. |
- We are wearing masks when working with each other
- We are disinfecting common surfaces thoroughly and frequently
- We are social distancing from one another whenever possible
- We are handwashing thoroughly and frequently
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While Oregon's COVID-19 hospitalization numbers remain low compared to other states, we believe it would be difficult for our clients and our staff if we were to re-open prematurely. When we welcome our clients back into the building, we would like to do so with full confidence that it will remain that way.
| We want to thank all of our clients that have extended kindness, gratitude, and patience to us during an extremely difficult time. We cannot express how receiving a "thank you" on a difficult day means more to us than you realize. Your support, compassion, and patience are invaluable to our team and we are very appreciative of your partnership. | 
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We understand that the no-contact appointment protocols are not the preference for you or for us. We have had some clients express their dissatisfaction with not being allowed inside the hospital with their pet. While we acknowledge that the current environment is fueled by stress, worry, loss, and frustration, we ask that you remember that our staff lives in the same world that you do. They continue to show up to help our clients and their pets and face the same uncertainties as everyone else.
We do ask that while scheduling routine wellness services, you remember that we are booked out for wellness and routine services sometimes up to two weeks at a time. We are working tirelessly to catch up with months of services that were delayed due to executive orders from the government. On top of that, appointments that used to take 15-20 minutes now take 30+ minutes when we account for staffing and sterilization procedures. This means that we are not able to accommodate as many patients in a day. If we need to schedule your pet's routine service out farther than you would like, it is partly due to catch up, partly due to us prioritizing appointment urgency, and partly due to limiting factors such as space, time, and safety. On a daily basis, we are adding on several sick patients to the schedule because they require our immediate attention and we would do the very same for your pet if they were seriously ill. That prioritization means that we cannot accommodate less urgent appointments as quickly.
As always, thank you for your cooperation and understanding during an unprecedented time in history. The far-reaching impact that COVID-19 has had on the world is staggering. The field of veterinary medicine will continue to endure its own set of COVID-19 challenges and we are confident that in partnership with our clients and our team we will come out stronger in the end.
Sincerely,
Your friends at Dogwood Pet Hospital
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