Bethel Family Clinic is adjusting its operations due to the coronavirus risk in Alaska. The dental clinic is not accepting elective, nonessential procedures, and the medical side is referring patients that call in with COVID-19 symptoms to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation for a thorough examination.
If patients would rather be treated at Bethel Family Clinic, they won’t be turned away. First, patients are asked a series of questions to see if they are at risk of having COVID-19. According to Director of Operations Jim Wyckoff, this includes checking the patients’ symptoms, their travel history, and what contacts they may have had with people who could have been exposed to the novel coronavirus.
“With the way the news is going, everybody believes if they sneeze they have COVID-19,” Wyckoff said. “That’s not necessarily the case.”
To fully determine if a patient has COVID-19, Wykoff says that Bethel Family Clinic has the capability to collect samples and send them into Anchorage for testing. Wykoff says that the clinic is wiping down all surfaces at least four or five times a day, and patients exhibiting coronavirus symptoms are required to wear a mask in the clinic’s facilities.
Bethel Family Clinic Executive Director Don Black says that the reason the dental clinic canceled non-essential procedures is because of the risk of mouth fluids becoming airborne. Black says that dental exams, extractions, and other critical procedures will continue.
Black also said that the clinic's behavioral health division will continue to see patients, but sessions will be conducted over the phone or via video conference when possible. When physical meetings occur, social distancing will be practiced.
