During this challenging time, the health and safety of our patients and staff remain our highest priority, and we ask all who are planning to visit ACE to please follow these precautions:
- Please reschedule your visit if you are experiencing any symptoms of respiratory illness, including fever, chills, cough, sore throat, muscle aches, malaise, and shortness of breath. We recommend you call your primary care physician and seek medical care and guidance if your symptoms are severe.
- Please reschedule your visit if you are experiencing any loss of taste or smell with the absence of a runny nose or congestion.
- Please reschedule your visit if you have had contact with someone with a confirmed case of COVID-19 within the past 14 days.
In an effort to keep our patients and staff safe and healthy, ACE has implemented the following measures:
- All patients, staff, and visitors will be screened for symptoms of coronavirus prior to entering the building, including having their temperature checked to rule out a fever. No one will be allowed to enter with symptoms of respiratory illness or fever.
- All patients, staff, and visitors will be required to sanitize their hands prior to entering the office.
- All patients, staff, and visitors must bring and wear a mask at all times during their visit inside the building. Those who do not have a face-covering will not be allowed to enter.
- Due to our limited availability and the high demand for appointments at this time, all appointments must be confirmed by 2:00 p.m. the business day before in order to avoid cancellation.
- In order to maintain social distancing requirements, no visitors will be permitted to accompany a patient into the building unless there is a medical necessity or the patient is a minor or elderly. In those cases, no more than one adult will be permitted to accompany the patient and they will also be screened and need to bring and wear a mask or face-covering.
- All patients have a maximum 5 minute grace period to arrive for an appointment.
- To minimize the number of people in the office, we will not permit any individuals in the office more than 10 minutes prior to their appointment time.
- Whenever possible, patients will wait in their vehicles until they are ready to be seen.
- New patients must complete all required intake forms on the patient portal prior to their visit to reduce the number of patients in the waiting room and to reduce their time spent in the office. The patient portal may be accessed at https://acecares.org/portal.
- Plexiglass screens have been installed where normal 6-foot social distancing is not possible.
- Plastic eye shield screens have been installed on diagnostic equipment in exam rooms to create a barrier between patients and staff during close-proximity testing.
- All exam rooms and diagnostic equipment are disinfected before every patient encounter and common touchpoints in the office are sterilized hourly.
- We have decreased the number of appointments per physician per day to reduce the number of patients in the office at any given time.
- We are offering TeleMedicine, including Virtual Consultations and Virtual Follow-Ups (for select appointment types) as options to reduce the number of patients seen in the office.
All of us at ACE greatly appreciate your understanding, patience, and cooperation, as we do our best to continue providing high-quality eye care while keeping our patients and staff safe and healthy during these unprecedented times. We look forward to seeing you soon!
661-215-1006 Monday - Friday 8:00 - 5:00 1721 Westwind Drive, Suite B, Bakersfield, CA 93301 Book Primary Care Telehealth Visit