COVID-19

We are OPEN (including for emergencies) to serve you and your pets during the COVID-19 crisis

COVID-19 Precautions for Owner and Patient Visits to Boundary Bay Veterinary Specialty Hospital

Boundary Bay is committed to doing everything possible to combat the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak.

As part of this commitment, effective immediately, Boundary Bay Veterinary Specialty Hospital will be instituting the following precautionary protocol for visiting clients to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission.

FOR CLIENTS VISITING OUR HOSPITAL

For your safety, the safety of our staff, and the safety of our communities, clients will not be allowed to enter the building.

• EMERGENCY patients:
  • If possible, please call us at 604-514-8383 to let us know you are on the way so we can be prepared to meet you upon your arrival at the hospital.
  • The ER main entrance is directly across the street from the Langley Costco and the BBVSH hospital entrance faces the Costco Gas Bar.
  • When you arrive, please stay in your vehicle in our parking lot, call (604) 514-8383 and we’ll come to you.
  • Before or after your arrival, we’ll ask you to complete this registration form and medical history form.
  • If you do not have a phone or your pet’s emergency is immediately life threatening, please come to the front door and ring the green bell located to the right of the door.
  • We understand that you may be curious or anxious about what’s going on with your pet, so our ER and Critical Care staff wrote a letter (see “ER CLIENTS” below).
• Patients with SCHEDULED APPOINTMENTS:
  • When you arrive, please stay in your vehicle in our parking lot, call (604) 514-8383 and we’ll come to you.
  • Before or after your arrival, we’ll ask you to complete this registration form and a medical history form.
  • If you do not have a phone, please come to the front door and ring the green bell located to the right of the door.

HOW WE’RE COMBATING COVID-19

Boundary Bay Veterinary Specialty Hospital is doing everything possible to combat COVID-19 within our hospital

Boundary Bay is committed to doing everything possible to combat the corona virus outbreak. We are following the recommendations of the BC Health Ministry including:

• Enforcing self-isolation and quarantine protocols for staff members who are showing signs of illness, who have traveled outside of Canada, and/or who have known exposure to COVID-19;
• Assigning certain staff members to dedicated disinfection duty;
• Increasing the frequency of our disinfection protocols;
• And introducing special protocols to protect you and our staff.

COVID-19 AND YOUR PET

• Check out this blog post with questions and answers about COVID-19 and your pet, for example, “Can my dog or cat get COVID-19?”
• Here are some useful handouts for pet owners from the AVMA:
  • Testing your pet for COVID-19
  • Caring for your pet with COVID-19

ER CLIENTS: A Quick Summary Of What Happens After We Take Your Pet

Here’s a message directly from our Emergency & Critical Care Staff to you:

“Dear Valued BBVSH Clients,

Thank you for trusting us with your pet’s care. Due to the circumstances surrounding COVID-19, we have been forced to change our hospital protocols for our safety and for yours. Due to the contagious nature of this virus, every time a person steps foot in our lobby, we are then obligated to don a mask, gown and gloves, and clean the entire lobby before anyone else can enter. While you may have remained in self isolation, followed the recommended social distancing guidelines and had no recent travel history, that doesn’t mean the person next to you in our lobby has done so as well.

In order to protect our staff and clients from contracting the virus at BBVSH (so that we can still be open and here to take care of your pets) and in order to reduce the waste of valuable life-saving medical supplies that are in short supply, the only way we can keep our doors open, is by keeping you safely in your car.

We realize that it is overwhelming to send your pet through our doors without you. To help ease your anxiety we have placed a short video on our Facebook page that goes through the triage process so you have an idea of what happens with your pet when we take them in back. Please feel free to watch it while you wait.

Meanwhile a quick summary of what happens once we take your pet:

• We take your pet to our triage area in the hospital where he/she is weighed.
• Our trained certified technicians, with the help of a trained assistant, collect your pets vital parameters.
  • This includes taking a temperature, getting a heart and respiratory rate and listening to your pets heart and lungs
• Additional tests include:
  • Non-invasive blood pressure testing, with a blood pressure cuff, similar to the way a person’s blood pressure is taken at a local pharmacy
  • An ECG which gives us your pets heart rhythm
  • A pulse oximetry reading which tells us how your pet is oxygenating
• All of these parameters are part of our initial emergency consult and do not add any extra fees (they are done for every emergency patient that comes through our doors anyways)
• This entire process can take 15-30 minutes so please try to remain calm while you wait to hear from one of our staff members, we want to ensure we are fully looking at your pet’s condition
• A physical examination will be performed by one of our emergency veterinarians or criticalist to assess stability and triage order
• Based on the other patients in the back and your pet’s stability, we will contact you via phone to discuss your pets’ care. If you are waiting, it is likely that your pet is more stable and we are attending to less stable patients in the back. But, rest assured your pet HAS been looked at and evaluated.

Based on what you authorized with the initial Emergency Assessment & Resuscitation form, we may also provide immediate pain management, place an IV catheter, or place your pet on oxygen therapy, given the nature of his/her emergency and what is indicated. This is based on our veterinarian and technician’s initial assessment above. Please know that if at anytime your pet’s condition has worsened or decompensated from the time they leave your arms, we will immediately send someone to inform you and discuss with you what is happening and next steps.

Thanks for your understanding and trust in us to do what is best for you and your pet!

Sincerely, the Emergency & Critical Care Staff at BBVSH”