Dear Patients:
Dr. Chick has retired and we are referring patients to Premier Plastic Surgery Group of Utah, located in Draper, UT. You may reach them at 801-571-2020. If you would like a copy of your records, please send an e-mail to lchickmd@xmission.com. Please include your full name, date of birth and phone number. We will reply as soon as possible. Thank you.
Dr. Chick
To our current and future patients:
Yesterday, March 13th, the American College of Surgeons issued their recommendations for elective surgery cases. The ACS, to which I and most surgeons belong, is the governing body for surgeons of all varieties. It is an organization that takes its responsibilities very seriously.
With the increasing likelihood of more and more serious COVID-19 cases overwhelming hospitals and physicians, the American College of Surgeons is asking surgeons “to plan to minimize, postpone, and cancel electively scheduled operations, endoscopies, or other invasive procedures until we have passed the predictive inflection point”.
This is being asked not only to minimize potential viral spread, but also because hospitals are becoming critically short of supplies, including surgical masks, gloves, drapes and gowns. To sum it up, hospitals may need every mask they have in the coming weeks for critical cases of all varieties, virus or say, appendicitis or heart attacks.
One smaller, rural hospital I know has already gone to emergency surgery only. I suspect the hospital chains in Salt Lake will do sometime next week.
Accordingly, our practice is going forward for now with these guidelines.
SCHEDULED SURGERIES
NOTE: If you are scheduled for surgery within the next three weeks, we will call you to discuss your options. You may also reach out to us at any time via text messaging at 801-322-1188 or e-mail at lchickmd@xmission.com. Someone will be monitoring these at all times.
OFFICE VISITS
We will be calling to reschedule most appointments. We will continue to see patients, especially ones that need to be seen in follow-up for stitches, etc. We will try to stagger appointments so that no one sits in the waiting room with others. Appointments that are routine, late follow-ups will be postponed. Consultations for cosmetic procedures will be scheduled, but at least three weeks from now. Consultations for serious reconstruction problems, will be seen as needed.
We will be doing everything we can to keep the office safe and clean, i.e. continual cleaning of surfaces, from chairs to doorknobs, and especially cleaning of hands, including yours. If you think you might be ill, please stay home. We do not want to get sick either.
Things have changed. Life will be different for a while. Let’s hope it returns quickly.
Sincerely,
Leland R. Chick, MD
https://www.facs.org/about-acs/covid-19/information-for-surgeons