Dear Expectant Parents,
We are excited to help you welcome your new addition into your family. We know that this is a stressful time for you in the midst of the coronavirus epidemic. Please know that the staff of the Emerson Hospital Birthing Center is here to provide the best birthing experience possible for you and your baby.
In order to provide the safest environment for you, your baby and our care providers, we have some new policies we must follow. These are consistent with national, state and regional standards.

• Patients coming to the Birthing Center for an appointment cannot have a support person with them. Support people should remain in their car until the visit is complete.
• Patients coming to the Birthing Center for labor and delivery may have one non-symptomatic adult support person with them who remains for the entire hospital stay. They cannot leave the unit or they will not be allowed back in. No children are allowed in the unit at this time.
• Additional information related to labor and delivery in the Birthing Center:
• Patients should bring their infant car seat, clothes for discharge, clothes and amenities for themselves and their support person when they come in. That saves a trip home for the support person.
• Emerson Hospital maintains a strict no smoking on campus rule so please remember that patients and their support people may not go out to smoke. Your providers can assist you with non-smoking help.
• Pediatric and obstetric care providers will round on you and your baby after birth but will most likely talk with you over the phone rather than in person. This is to minimize exposure and maintain social distancing.
• We have sourced a local pharmacy that will deliver prescriptions at discharge here to the hospital to save you a trip. If you are interested in using this service, please notify your provider or nurse.
• We have additional resources to share with you to help cope with your new baby.
• If you are planning to breast feed, please sanitize your breast pump and its pieces, and bring to the hospital with you. The Lactation Specialists will ensure proper use before you go home.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your doctor and/or midwife.
Again, welcome to you and yours.
Sincerely,
The Staff and Providers of the Birthing Center at Emerson Hospital

One of our midwives did a podcast on being pregnant and precautions for pregnant women and their partners during this pandemic. We hope that you find this information valuable and interesting!

Podcast

AFA Ob/Gyn wants to make sure that the necessary and urgent health care needs of our patients are met. We are working to minimize your risk as well as risk to our staff while we ensure that women still receive needed care. Please check in with either our Facebook Page or website for updates as we have them. There may be more than one update each day.

1. We are prioritizing appointments that have already been scheduled. Women may be asked to reschedule or you may be offered a Telemedicine appointment, if appropriate and depending on your health condition. Our office will contact you to discuss your options or if you have an upcoming appointment please call us so we can determine what is your best option.

2. If an in-person appointment is needed you will be the only one allowed into our office for this appointment and/or ultrasound. We ask that your partner or family member either stay home or in their car if they drove you to your appointment.

3. We can continue to meet many of your healthcare needs with Telemedicine for existing as well as new patients. Some examples of appointments are listed below. If you have a concern and wonder if a Telemedicine appointment is appropriate please call us and we can help determine if this is an option for you.

• Some prenatal appointments
• Contraceptive counseling or follow-ups
• Postpartum concerns, including anxiety and depression
• Lactation concerns
• Perimenopause concerns
• Menopause concerns
• Infections requiring antibiotics or other treatment
• Preconceptual counseling/Fertility concerns
• Counseling regarding hereditary cancers and family history of breast, ovarian, colon, uterine, pancreatic cancers.
• Counseling regarding results of hereditary cancer risk testing
• Painful menses or irregular menses

AFA Ob/Gyn is making every effort to keep you, your family, our staff and their families healthy we would like to share the following.

All of us at AFA Ob/Gyn want to be able to continue to provide necessary outpatient care. It is our goal to make sure everyone can receive the care they need as well as keep women out of Urgent Care and Emergency room settings. We are enlisting the help of the women we care for.

— Please plan on attending your appointments as well as ultrasound appointments in our offices alone.
— If you require someone to drive you to appointments, we would ask that person to wait for you in their vehicle.
— We will be rooming women in exam rooms ideally as soon as they arrive to adhere to “social distancing” practices.
— Exam rooms will be completely cleansed with anti-bacterial and anti-viral wipes in between every single patient.
— We will continue to make calls and confirm every appointment and ask screening questions during these confirmation calls and at time of check-in.
— Please call us to reschedule if you are experiencing any respiratory symptoms and/or fever.
— If you are 60 and over and scheduled for an annual exam, please call our office to reschedule.
— Please be patient – we expect a high call volume for both our reception and nursing staff.

Please follow our FB page. We will provide any important updates regarding our office and any changes that may impact appointments here.

The health of the women we care for and their families are of the utmost importance to us here at AFA Ob/Gyn. We are closely monitoring all information and recommendations by the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control as well as the Massachusetts Department of Public Health regarding the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

We have and continue to implement strict cleaning and sanitizing protocols of patient areas within all of our offices since the very first concerns were raised for COVID -19 within the United States. This pandemic has changed certain policies within our office. These changes are aimed at limiting exposure to you and our staff.

Here is what this may mean for you:

• We will be screening all patients for any symptoms and travel history when appointments are confirmed and when you are checked in.
• We would recommend that you limit the number of people accompanying you to your appointments.
• If you have an ultrasound in our office only one person will be allowed to attend this appointment with you.
• Emerson Hospital Birthing Center has instituted a one visitor/support person when in labor.
• We will be waiving cancellation fees with less than 24 hours notice. We still require a call to advise us that you need to reschedule your appointment. A fee will be charged if we are not notified that you are unable to attend.
• If you are 60 or over and scheduled for an annual exam please call us to discuss if your appointment is appropriate to be rescheduled.

Best Regards,

Emily Strehle, DO
Laura Silk, MD
Sherriann Perivolotis, CNM

AFA ObGyn, P.C.
(978) 371-1396