Self-Scheduled Sick Visits & Patient Gateway

Dear Families of Centre Pediatrics:

As many of you know, the healthcare industry has been hit hard by the ongoing COVID pandemic and the resulting shortage in the workforce. Adding to that has been the burden of increased respiratory viruses such as RSV and influenza. Here at Centre Pediatrics, we have been diligently trying to increase staffing to meet the needs of all our patients and employees, but this has been an incredibly difficult task. As we have mentioned before, phone calls and Patient Gateway messages are being responded to as fast as we can. Please do not use Patient Gateway to send urgent messages. As it says when you log on, these messages are for non-urgent issues and may not be responded to for a few days.

We are writing to inform you that we are bringing the ability to self-schedule sick visits for early morning visits. If you choose to use this feature, these sick visits are for acute issues ONLY such as:

  • new onset fevers (for more than 24 hours with no other symptoms for 3 to 6 month olds, more than 48 hours for 6 months+ with no other symptoms, or fevers > 102 for more than 72 hours for kids with upper respiratory symptoms
  • sore throat
  • upper respiratory symptoms such as congestion, cough, wheezing, barky cough.
    • if your child is a known asthmatic, please bring their supplies such as inhalers, spacers, etc with you.
    • if your child is coming in with respiratory symptoms, we ask you to please do a home COVID antigen test. If it is positive, please call the office instead of scheduling during this time.
  • ear pain
  • concern for urinary tract infection

PLEASE, DO NOT USE these visits for chronic issues or issues you would like to talk to your primary MD/PNP team. If your child has COVID or another household member is COVID+, please call for an appointment. If you have a home COVID antigen test that is positive, you do not need a confirmatory PCR test in the office. For simple conjunctivitis, please call our office as your child may be eligible for eye ointment to be sent in to the pharmacy without being seen.
If your child is tested for COVID, Influenza A, Influenza B, or RSV via our PCR machine, results will be placed into Patient Gateway but may take up to 24 hr for them to be reported.

DIRECTIONS TO SELF BOOK MORNING SICK VISITS FOR ACUTE ISSUES ONLY (these appointments will be visible only after 4 PM the night before):

  1. Go to Patient Gateway (there is also an app that you can download on your phone if you would like).
  2. Choose “Schedule an Appointment” under child’s chart.
  3. Pick “Sick Visit APP”
  4. Pick Centre Pediatric Associates, should have time slot to choose.

PLEASE remember, wear your mask into our building and our office. Masks are still mandatory in the healthcare setting.

Thank you all for your patience in these trying times.

Sincerely,
Staff at Centre Pediatrics