We are Now Open! Update 5/11/2020:
We are seeing patients again starting today Monday, May 11th. Prior to your appointment, all patients must complete our new Supplemental Health Questionnaire.
Please contact us if you have any questions about these forms. We look forward to seeing you!
Dear Flanagan Orthodontics families,
We are getting very excited that we will soon be able to see all of our wonderful patients again. As you know, the world has been turned upside down and inside out the last couple of months. Rest assured, things will get back to normal before too long. We want to give you an update on what we are doing to protect your health and ours. In order to comply with State and Federal guidelines from the CDC and IDPH, we have changed how we handle our patient flow in order to comply with distancing and infection control guidelines. We want to do everything we can to ensure the safety and health of our staff and the patients we serve. Please help us by following these simple rules.
- All persons entering our office must wear a mask in order to comply with the mandate from the State of Illinois requiring the wearing of masks in indoor public spaces. Due to the shortage of PPE, in particular masks, we are not able to provide masks to anyone. If you do not have a mask, please do not enter our office and call us at 815-399-5757 or text 815-572-4525.
- Please observe the 6 foot distancing in our waiting room. In order to comply with this, only the patient is allowed in our office. There must not be anyone accompanying the patient. We are asking parents to stay in their vehicle and call us when they arrive. We will then let you know if it is ok for your child to come into the office. Any necessary communication between parents and our staff/Dr. Flanagan will be done with calls/texts. We will make exceptions for younger patients who may need a parent to accompany them. In these situations, only one parent will be allowed to accompany the patient, and absolutely no one else. We will have seating positions in our office blocked off to provide for 6 foot spacing.
- All patients/parents will need to fill out a supplemental health questionnaire immediately before an appointment with us and entering our office. This form is available at the top of this page. Temperatures will also be taken on all patients using touchless, infrared thermometers. If anyone has a temperature of 100* of higher, the appointment will need to be rescheduled for two weeks later. It is also suggested that you contact your family physician if an elevated temperature is detected as this can be a symptom of COVID-19.
- We will also have our staff fill out the health questionnaire and take our temperatures each morning.
We also want everyone to know that we have always practiced strict and effective infection control guidelines in our office, given to us by the CDC and OSHA. These are called standard precautions. We will also be implementing some common sense, extra measures to help enhance our infection control procedures, many of which you are already used to during the outbreak. These are things such as disinfecting frequently touched surfaces like as countertops, door handles, etc. We will be removing magazines, toys and the coffee bar from our waiting room temporarily.
We are grateful for all of the families and patients who have supported us in the past and now during this difficult time. You are the reason why we go to work each and every day. We know that not being able to see our patients for an extended period of time will cause some patients to have an increased length of treatment. We will do our very best to get every patient back on track as quickly as possible. We ask for your patience and understanding as we begin seeing our patients at a reduced capacity.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to call or text our office or Dr. Flanagan himself. We look forward to the day in the near future when we will be taking care of patients the way we were doing it before this outbreak started.
Warmly,
Dr. Flanagan, Lisa, Lauri, Sharon, Nikki, Krisan, Michele, and Jan.