MEMORANDUM

TO: ALL VIPCARE CLIENTS

FROM: DOUGLAS M. THORPE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

SUBJECT: COVID-19 PRECAUTIONS

date: May 27, 2020

As the COVID-19 pandemic evolves, and as the Commonwealth of Virginia’s official response moves through its phases, VIPCare continues to fine-tune its efforts to serve you faithfully and safely. As an act of kindness and care for all the clients and staff of VIPCare, we ask you to observe the following practices that will lessen the transmission of the coronavirus.

For the health and safety of all VIPCare clients and staff:

· If you are feeling sick, have a cough, fever, loss of taste, or shortness of breath, please do not come to VIPCare for your appointment. We will gladly reschedule your appointment for a later date and will waive any late-cancellation fees.

·If you have an in-person appointment at a VIPCare office, please wear a face mask or cloth covering over your mouth and nose while you are in the waiting room. Alternatively, you may wait in your car or on the sidewalk outside the building until your counselor is ready for you. When we are busy we cannot guarantee social distancing in the waiting room. Wearing a mask or cloth covering is an act of kindness that protects you, your fellow clients, and VIPCare’s administrative staff from the spread of the virus.

·In your counseling session you may wear a mask if you choose and you may request that your counselor wear a mask, but masks are not required in counselors’ offices.

·If you have the capacity to speak with your counselor by videoconference or telephone rather than face-to-face in a VIPCare office, please consider switching to telehealth.

·If you begin to feel sick in the middle of an appointment, please end the session and return home. We will not charge you for any session interrupted by the onset of illness.

· If you need to cough or sneeze, please cough or sneeze into a disposable tissue or into your elbow or shoulder if a tissue is not readily available.

·Please wash your hands frequently for at least 20 seconds with soap and water, or use hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. Please wash or sanitize your hands after coughing or sneezing.

· We are working to clean surfaces that get touched often, such as doorknobs and pens, but we cannot clean them after every touch.

Thank you for working with us to keep everyone as healthy as possible.