We took it upon ourselves to draft letters for you to make communication quick, clear and easy. Feel free to use what we have provided if the letters resonate with you. Feel free to adjust them as you see fit. Send them to your provincial health units and insurers and keep the dialogue alive. Thank you.
Below you will find a SAMPLE LETTER TO PUBLIC HEALTH:
{Put on your office letterhead}
{Insert today’s date}
{Insert Public Health Organization Name}
Dear Mr./Ms. ___________
The COVID-29 pandemic is a crisis unlike any in modern memory. The health of millions of Canadians is at risk. It is critical we work together to minimize the impact to our people and our economy.
This coronavirus has shown itself to be highly contagious, and serious enough to overwhelm our healthcare system unless we can control its spread.
As dental health care professionals, my team and I work in an environment with high aerosols. Given the current understanding of viral air-borne spread and the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), it is in the best interests of public health and of my patients and employees for my practice to be closed. I am writing today to request a nationwide memorandum from public health authorities to:
1. Declare a state of emergency such that all PPE can be directed to primary-care workers and hospitals
2. Require ALL DENTAL CARE be stopped immediately
3. Issue a notice that office owners and employees are banned from their offices
4. Order all dental regulatory bodies be responsible for creating a specific dental emergency care plan within their regions that do not involve regular dental / specialty business access but does not ask any more of hospital facilities
We need your help to assure the public that all of Canada’s health care providers are working together. Closing dental offices will allow us to focus our resources where they are needed, and in a minimum number of facilities. Even if our public health authorities do not mandate closures of our practices, it is incumbent on you to encourage closure to funnel PPE goods to primary responders and hospitals who are making an urgent call for more equipment.
Please help our country, our health care providers, our communities and our families.
Please take action now.
Sincerely,
{Insert your name and signature}
Below you will find a SAMPLE LETTER TO YOUR INSURER
{Put on your office letterhead}
{Insert today’s date}
{Insert Insurance Carrier information}
Dear Mr./Ms. ___________
The COVID-29 pandemic is a crisis unlike any in modern memory. The health of millions of Canadians is at risk. It is critical we work together to minimize the impact to our people and our economy.
As the owner of a dental health care business, I and my team work in an high-aerosol environment. While we work to minimize it, the unknown nature of COVID-19’s spread and infection rate makes closing my practice a way of safeguarding public health and the health of my employees. The country does not have sufficient N-95 masks, gloves, gowns and face shields to carry on. As such — at significant risk to my income, the livelihoods of my employees, and the survival of my business — I have ceased to practice dentistry until circumstances change. I have done so because it is the right thing to do.
To protect my investment in my practice from the unlikely event of exactly this sort of unavoidable closure, I purchased practice interruption insurance, “Triple-Guard”, and/or pandemic insurance. Now that my practice is no longer operating as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, I ask you to honour the spirit of our agreement. Because of the pandemic, I have suffered a significant loss of income, which I attempted to insure myself against.
Should you fail to honour what I believe any reasonable person would consider to be your obligation under our agreement, I am prepared to seek a new insurance provider for all my insurance needs, and consider formal action in collaboration with other dental health care providers who find themselves in the same situation I am in.
We need support from you, our insurance provider to consider the global issue at hand and put aside clause semantics and assist those who need their bonded coverage. We need your help to assure the public that all of Canada’s dental care providers, along with their staff are protected and remain healthy. We want to return to regular, safe patient care but cannot do so at this time. Even if our public health authorities do not mandate closures of our practices, it is incumbent on you to support us in our attempt to maintain the health of our patients, staff and our community and provide insurance support that we expect and need.
Please help our country, our health care providers, our communities and our families.
Please take action now.
Sincerely,
{Insert your name and signature}