To Our Injured Clients – Tips for Getting the Treatment You Need During the Virus
We’ve all had to make drastic life adjustments in our collective effort to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. We know this impacts our injured clients as much as anyone else. For instance, the measures taken may include medical providers postponing your important appointments or temporarily suspending your therapy regimen. But of course there’s no pause button for your injuries or your pain.
Whether you’re currently in physical therapy or pain management, here are tips for getting the treatment you need in the near future to stay on track in your recovery.
- Contact your medical providers in advance to confirm your existing appointments are still going forward.
- If your medical provider postpones your appointment and/or therapy regimen for the near future, be sure to request alternative home-based therapy programs from your medical provider. Please try and obtain written instructions from your doctor and save it for your case.
- Document your at-home treatment by taking photographs and video. Also, be sure to log your treatments in a journal (for example: your symptoms, limitations and emotions, what you did for treatment, for how long, and how your injured area responded to treatment). Your medical provider typically records all of this in your medical records. For the time being, your journal will be the documentation supporting what you’re going through. Your journal entries should be weekly at a minimum.
- There are even apps for home therapy treatments, such as MeHab. MeHab is available for download on Apple’s App Store and Google Play. This can help you keep up with your treatment and to document it. Click here for more information on MeHab. If you decide not to use an app like MeHab, most cell phones have a Notes app. You can keep track of your progress in that app and e-mail your Notes to us periodically.
- You might need to purchase medical equipment to help with your at-home treatment. You should do this as soon as possible to avoid delays and shortages.
- If your cancelled appointment was for diagnostic testing (for example: CT scans, MRIs, etc.), be sure to reschedule with your provider for a date as soon as possible. Document your symptoms in a journal, and ask your treating medical professional what, if anything, you can do for your treatment while you wait for your rescheduled test.
- Lastly, if you are able to attend regularly scheduled appointments, please follow the well-publicized protective measures. Here is a link to one of the many helpful resources out there, as published by the World Health Organization: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) advice for the public.
We Continue to Work for You
Our firm’s legal practice remains open as we closely monitor this rapidly developing situation. Our firm continues to work without interruption. We have safeguards in place that allow our firm to continue working in a virtual space for all of our clients. To our clients and others outside our offices, there should be no noticeable difference in access to our staff and the services we routinely provide. We are available by e-mail, telephone, and video conferencing. Please note that our phone calls may be from a phone number you do not recognize (or an unknown or blocked number), as our attorneys and staff may be calling you from our cell phones.
Please stay safe.
