Coronavirus Update

11/18/20

To our wonderful family of patients, dental colleagues, and friends,

It is with much sadness that we announce the closing of our Graham office location at 307 S. Main Street in Graham. This was my very first office location, and after 27 years of working there, this decision did not come easily nor was it made lightly. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced us all to reevaluate many things in our lives, including our business/financial decisions. We have not seen patients in our Graham office in over seven months as we have felt, and continue to feel, that our Burlington facility provides a much safer environment for both our patients and our staff. With no definitive end to COVID-19 in sight, we simply can no longer justify the overhead of maintaining a second office that we cannot use. We will of course continue the full-time operation of our main office at 1700 Westbrook Avenue in Burlington - seeing all of our patients there as we have been doing throughout the pandemic.

While this is indeed a sad time for us in many ways, we also see it as an opportunity to move forward toward an even brighter future at Lowe Orthodontics. Our mission to provide an uncompromising level of orthodontic care in a fun, friendly, and caring environment remains unchanged. We sincerely believe that this permanent change to a one-location practice will provide numerous advantages to our patients, their families, and our staff, including:

1. Safer Environment For All: As mentioned above, we are convinced that our Burlington office affords a much safer work environment for patients, their families and our staff alike. With a much larger waiting room as well as more spacious patient care areas, recommended social distancing is much easier to achieve. In addition to the increased square footage, this office also has much taller ceilings, which allow for significantly better ventilation and therefore less risk of airborne disease transmission. We also believe that these advantages will still be important even after this current pandemic is resolved, as they will help minimize all airborne disease transmission, including the flu.

2. Keeping Treatment Costs Down: While many businesses and health care providers have seen the need to either increase their regular fees and/or add a COVID-19 surcharge to help offset their increased expenses from the pandemic, we have been able to avoid doing either of these to date. By removing the overhead of a second office, we hope to be able to continue to keep our fees as low as reasonably possible for our patients - especially during this time of economic uncertainty.

3. Added Convenience: We recognize that some of our regular Graham patients may be inconvenienced with a slightly longer drive, and we are sincerely sorry for this. We are hopeful, however, that we can make up for this by adding back convenience in other ways. Former Graham patients will now have the increased flexibility to schedule appointments from Monday through Thursday, instead of being limited to Tuesday appointments only. In addition, we believe that our patient flow is much more efficient in our Burlington office, such that the average wait time for Graham patients should now be considerably less. Lastly, our Burlington office offers the latest in state of the art technology, including low radiation digital radiography and no radiation digital scanning. This further adds to patient convenience, as well as providing safer and more efficient treatment for all.

In closing, it has truly been my great honor and privilege to serve the Graham community directly in our Graham office for over 27 years. And please rest assured that we will continue to provide the highest quality orthodontic treatment for all of Alamance County and its surrounding areas for many years to come!

Sincerely,

Dr. Lowe and the entire Lowe Orthodontics Team

6/9/20: Please know that the health, safety and well being of our patients, our staff and our community are of the utmost importance to us. With this in mind, we have made the decision to temporarily close our Graham office. All patients will need to be seen in our Burlington office at this time. Our Graham office is a significantly smaller facility - with much smaller rooms - and this makes it very difficult to provide quality orthodontic treatment and still maintain appropriate social distancing during the Covid-19 outbreak. We are truly sorry for any inconvenience this might cause, but we feel it is currently the best way to proceed in regards to the health and safety of our patients and staff. 

We are also continuing to follow our strict COVID-19 office protocol based on CDC and health department guidelines.  Some of the measures being taken include, but are not limited to: thorough screening of all patients and staff, including taking temperatures with touch-less thermometers; minimizing the number of people in the office at any one time; practicing social distancing for those in the office; minimizing the need to touch solid objects such as door handles, pens, etc.; mandating the wearing of masks for all employees and all patients/visitors; minimizing/adjusting procedures that cause aerosol formation; utilizing all recommended PPE (personal protective equipment) for staff and doctor.

In short, our office will continue to do everything in our power to keep you and your family safe as we continue to provide the highest quality orthodontic care available. But we also ask that you do your part to keep yourself and others safe when you come for your appointment by remembering to follow the patient guidelines below. 

PATIENT GUIDELINES during COVID-19

1. DO NOT come in for your appointment if you have or have had any of the following symptoms within the last 2-3 weeks:

-FEVER

-SHORTNESS OF BREATH/BREATHING DIFFICULTIES

-PERSISTANT COUGH

-FLU-LIKE SYMPTOMS: FATIGUE, HEADACHE, GI UPSET

-RECENT LOSS OF TASTE OR SMELL

2. DO NOT come in for your appointment if you have had contact with any confirmed COVID-19 positive patients OR have travelled to regions significantly affected by COVID-19 within the last 2-3 weeks.

3. Upon arrival, please stay in your car and “check in” remotely via phone by calling 336-226-8417. Our staff will let you know when it is time for you to enter the office. Whenever possible, only the patient should come into the office, with parents and/or other family members remaining in the car.

4. Everyone is expected to wear a mask while in the office. Due to the shortage of PPE (personal protective equipment), our office may not be able to provide masks for everyone so please bring your own if at all possible. In the event you cannot, we will provide one for you as our supply allows.

5. Please practice good hand hygiene at all times using the provided hand sanitizer and/or washing your hands as needed.

6. Please use proper cough etiquette utilizing tissues and good hand hygiene.

7. Everyone is expected to maintain 6 feet of social distancing.

8. Upon leaving, follow up appointments and/or payments can still be made at the front desk, but can also be made remotely via phone as well.

We want to thank all of you for your patience and understanding during this difficult and often inconvenient time in our history.  We have made every effort to contact all patients that missed appointments during the Covid-19 shutdown.  But if we somehow missed you, please call our office as soon as possible to get rescheduled.  We look forward to seeing all of you very soon and we continue to pray for health and safety for everyone.