A Note To Our Patients

Dear Healthy Steps Patient,

We have had many questions from our patients about the Coronavirus and our plans during this worldwide crisis. At Healthy Steps Internal Medicine, the health and welfare of our patients is our top priority.

For this reason we have put in place several new practices that will help us decrease our patients’ likelihood of exposure to potentially contagious persons.

If you are experiencing the following symptoms, we are asking that you STAY HOME and call the office for further instructions:

High fever
Dry cough
Difficulty breathing

A healthcare professional will return your call as soon as possible. You will then be advised on your best course of action.

If you are having difficulty breathing, and your symptoms are concerning, or your fever is not well controlled with over the counter medications, please do not hesitate to go to your local ER. Please call ahead and notify them that you are coming so they can guide you per their ER protocol. These measures are in accordance with the CDC and local health department guidelines.

If you have traveled to a country that is considered high risk for transmitting the disease, please follow the CDC guidelines for self isolation. However, since we now know the chances for community spread (transmission not related to foreign travel) is high and on the rise, we are asking that all persons who have these symptoms follow the above guidelines.

Due to limited availability of test kits, this office is not currently equipped to test for the Coronavirus.

Since much emphasis has been placed on social distancing we are actively working on implementing Telehealth in our practice. Our hope is to initiate this ASAP so that we will have seamless transition for optimal care. We will keep you updated on this as it becomes available.

A link to a UChicagoMedicine article is below. Though there are MULTIPLE articles about COVID-19 we found this comprehensive and straightforward. The CDC website is also an excellent source of information and will have the most updated changes.

https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront/prevention-and-screening-articles/wuhan-coronavirus

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

We appreciate your patience, cooperation and understanding. As we all stay calm and use common sense measures, we will be able to deal with this virus together.

Husna R. Baksh, MD and Staff
Healthy Steps Internal Medicine