COVID-19 Resources for Animal Hospitals

April 3, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged veterinary practices to make ongoing adjustments to keep their teams and clients safe while continuing to provide care to pets in their communities. From transitioning to curbside service to adding telehealth support to working with limited personal protective equipment (PPE), veterinarians have made an exceptional number of changes in a very short period of time.

As a large network of practices, we’ve had the benefit of collecting and sharing best practices between our hospitals. Below are some of the key resources we’ve developed based on their needs, experiences, and feedback to help guide them through these unprecedented circumstances.

We know that some private practices are looking for similar resources and we welcome them to use ours if they find them helpful.

Telehealth Support

Download this Telehealth Support Guide to help walk you through some important suggestions and considerations while setting up a telehealth program at your practice.

Curbside Care
In order to continue providing needed care and service to our patients while minimizing exposure risk, many of our practices have turned to curbside care. Curbside Transistion Planning walks you though some key areas to think about as you set up or review your curbside protocol.

Countryside Veterinary Hospital in Chelmsford, MA created short videos for their Facebook page to show clients how they can hand off their dogs and/or cats and exotics while maintaining proper social distancing standards.

PPE Alternatives and Conservation Ideas
Here are a few ideas from our practices to help you conserve PPE as well as find alternatives for high use items during the shortage.

Temporary Practice Closure Protocol
In the event one of your team members receives a COVID-19 positive diagnosis your practice may need to close temporarily. Download the CV19 Customizable Temporary Closure Protocol to help create a plan in advance.

Letter for Essential Business
You can download and update this letter with your practice information and distribute to your teams as a form of identification. Please make sure to check local government websites for information about other identification that may be required.

Client Communication Support
To help you communicate with your clients as you adjust in order to continue providing care while keeping your team safe, we have created the resources below.