3/20 Update about Coronavirus from Crystal Run Healthcare

Dear Patients of Crystal Run,

I am again writing to update you about COVID-19, and about what we are doing at Crystal Run to help keep you safe and healthy during this challenging time.

A lot has happened  in the few days since I last wrote to you.  New York and federal authorities have taken new actions to encourage social distancing as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise.  Your lives—all of our lives—have changed in ways that were unimaginable, only a few weeks ago.

As before, I urge calm. You may tire of my saying that, but that is still “the best medicine.”  While we have seen an increasing number of patients with confirmed COVID-19 come through our COVID-19 evaluation sites, the overwhelming majority of those individuals are doing just fine, recovering at home, many with very mild symptoms.  I don’t want to minimize the impact of this disease—we know that some will be more symptomatic, and that some will succumb to the disease.   But most affected individuals will recover uneventfully.

As I informed you in my last note,   we have taken measures to increase social distancing in our offices, and to keep individuals with symptoms consistent with COVID-19, such as unexplained fever or respiratory symptoms, out of our facilities.  Symptomatic patients are being directed to our COVID-19 evaluation sites where they can be safely evaluated by a physician and tested if deemed necessary. We appreciate your cooperation as we work to protect all of our patients and staff.

If you do have any upper respiratory symptoms or unexplained fever, we ask that you not come to our offices, but instead call our CORONAVIRUS HOTLINE at 845-643-3909.  You will be directed to one of our COVID-19 evaluation sites to be seen by appointment. Since I last wrote to you, we have expanded our COVID-19 testing site in Goshen, and have added evaluation sites outside of four of our urgent care locations, including Rock Hill, Middletown, Newburgh, and West Nyack. We are safely and efficiently evaluating hundreds of symptomatic patients a day at these locations, with little if any wait.

In addition, we have rolled out a robust telehealth platform to help meet the healthcare needs of those  patients who may not need to come to the office for at least some of their visits. Just as we are committed to caring for our patients with symptoms consistent with  COVID-19 without putting other patients at risk, we also want to  provide needed care to  those patients with chronic medical problems or acute concerns who require medical evaluation.  While our providers are still in our offices ready to see patients in person, we understand that some patients may be more comfortable having a virtual telehealth visit instead.  We now have over 200 providers utilizing  telehealth to evaluate patients   and we have performed hundreds of telehealth visits each day over the last few days.  A virtual telehealth visit allows our providers to see and speak with their patients and provides many of the same services that can provided in the office. More information on our Telehealth program can be found here: https://www.crystalrunhealthcare.com/telehealth

I know this is a difficult time for all of us. I understand your worry.  Please rest assured we are here for you, and please feel free to reach out to us, and to me personally,  any time.    We will get through this together. 

Dr T

Hal Teitelbaum, MD, JD, MBA

Managing Partner & CEO