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March 27, 2020

Bandera Family Practice issues guidelines to help keep patients safe

The doctors and staff of Bandera Family Practice, a Bandera health care facility since 1999, are considered an essential business and are continuing to treat patients daily.
To keep patients safe, Bandera Family Practice has implemented the following procedures: 
  • Patients may not enter the building until they are screened at the door according to CDC guidelines.
  • If a patient has fever or flu like symptoms, they are directed back to their vehicle and a doctor will treat them at their vehicle.
  • Caretakes and family members are asked to wait in the vehicle.
For patients who have concerns of being in the clinic, providers can see them in the parking lot in their car by simply calling the front desk when they arrive. Patients with access to a smart phone or computer can also be seen through telehealth/facetime type visits. There is no need to cancel existing appointments either. Those visits can be conducted the same way.
What you should do if you are sick:
Make an appointment
  • Call your primary care provider
  • Avoid urgent care centers or emergency rooms.
Wear a facemask:
  • Wear a facemask when you are around other people and before you enter a healthcare provider’s office.
  • If you are caring for others: If the person who is sick is not able to wear a facemask (for example, because it causes trouble breathing), then people who live in the home should stay in a different room. When caregivers enter the room of the sick person, they should wear a facemask. Visitors, other than caregivers, are not recommended.​  
Cover your coughs and sneezes!
  • Cover: Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze.
  • Dispose: Throw used tissues in a lined trash can.
  • Wash hands: Immediately wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.
Clean your hands often!
  • Wash hands: Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. This is especially important after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing; going to the bathroom; and before eating or preparing food and after eating.
  • Hand sanitizer: If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol, covering all surfaces of your hands and rubbing them together until they feel dry.
  • Soap and water: Soap and water are the best option, especially if hands are visibly dirty.
  • Avoid touching: Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
 “In this unprecedented time across the world, rest assured our providers, Saleh Jaafar, MD, Lawrence Alder, M.D., Michael Fields, M.D. Bryan Sims, DNP, APRN-BC, FNP and the entire Bandera Family Practice team are dedicated to providing the same care patients have come to expect for over 20 years.”
Although testing is not available in Bandera County, patients who doctors feel should be tested for COVID-19 are given a prescription to take to the Joe and Henry Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, where the test is administered. As of March 27, Bandera County has had no positive tests.