As your fertility partners, our primary goal is to make sure you remain healthy and informed. We are here to answer any questions you may have.

If you are currently in treatment with us, we always follow stringent protocols around hygiene and infection control including sanitizing all work surfaces, chairs, diagnostic instruments, keyboards, touchpads, phones, door handles, and common areas for every guest. We have also began screening via questionnaires, taking patient temperatures throughout the treatment cycle, and increased the availability of hand sanitizer throughout our clinic. Additionally, any team member who is not feeling well will not be reporting to work and is required to provide a doctor’s note to return.  We are not shaking hands and provide only virtual hugs.

Symptoms that you should be aware of and report to your care team include:

• Fever >100.4°F
• Productive cough
• Shortness of breath

If you are scheduled for an in-office appointment and develop symptoms such as coughing or fever, please notify us to reschedule or discuss your options.

Telemedicine Alternatives

Advanced Reproductive Center of Hawaii provides initial consultation appointments as well all non-treatment visits, including to review lab tests or results. We encourage you to take advantage of our telemedicine service. You can call our office at (808) 949-6611 to learn more about online consultations with our physicians via telephone, tablet / iPad, laptop, or computer.

It is important to note that COVID-19 is unlike the flu in many ways:, COVID-19 is a “novel” infection (new to humans) and host immunity is assumed to be minimal.

• No specific medications are available for the treatment of COVID-19
• COVID-19 is more contagious than the flu.
• COVID-19 has a 10 to 15-fold greater death rate than the flu.
• COVID-19 impacts the lungs differently than does the flu.

As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise, we are aware of the associated stress and are committed to communicating proactively with our patients. While we continue to learn more, it is important to emphasize that healthy reproductive age women overwhelmingly experience mild symptoms with any infection.

As always, the best way to prevent getting sick is to minimize exposure risks. These are outlined on the CDC website and key takeaways are included below:

• Avoid close contact with sick people who are sick.
• Use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol, often.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing, or having been in a public place.
• To the extent possible, avoid touching high-touch surfaces in public places (elevator buttons, door handles, handrails, handshaking with people). If you do, then use hand sanitizer or soap and water.
• Try to avoid touching your face, nose, eyes (we know, it’s really hard!).
• Clean and disinfect your home, especially frequently touched surfaces (tables, doorknobs, light switches).
• Clean your cell phones with alcohol as well.

The Advanced Reproductive Center of Hawaii is following national guidelines which currently are delaying all new cycles for fertility treatments over the short term.

If you fall into the “high risk” category, we recommend that your delay treatment by at least two weeks or confirm negative for  COVID-19 through a test administered by your primary care physician.

We will continue to monitor the situation and take necessary steps to help protect those who come into our office. If you have any questions, please contact us.

Sincerely,
Advanced Reproductive Center of Hawaii