Thrive-Health Guide Southern West Virginia August 2020 - Page 24

Dr. Kevin Bailey says area dentists have assisted each other with concerns and needs since the beginning of
Covid-19.
“I’ve spent several thousand
dollars on stuff that I wouldn’t
have had before or that I never
had,” Childress said.
Bailey added that because of the
way they have to stagger patients
as well as clean after each one, the
number of patients they can see
daily has diminished.
“Patient access to care has been
diminished and that is a huge
thing because when you’re used
to seeing X amount of patients in
your practice and taking care of
them and when you’re at about
60 percent capacity of what you
were before, that really diminishes
the amount of patients that you
can see and the care that they can
receive,” he said. “That very much
has been a big thing, and this is
likely going to be our new norm
for a year if not longer.”
A saving grace to small businesses
like these whose finances
have been greatly affected by
the coronavirus has been the
Paycheck Protection Program,
or PPP, which was part of the
coronavirus stimulus package
from the federal government and
allowed businesses to take out a
low-interest loan in order to cover
payroll, rent or utilities.
“We were able to get that on the
second round of stimulus, and
without it we would probably be
on the verge of bankruptcy,” Bailey
said. “Just on the mere point
of being shut down for that length
of time and trying to reopen and
see the amount of patients that we
are seeing ... it makes it difficult to
make payroll and other monthly
payments.”
Bailey added that during the
West Virginia stay-at-home order
instituted in March, he had to
lay off his entire office because
dentists were allowed to see only
emergency patients during that
time per the order.
“You always have emergency
patients, but we were very limited
on what we could do for them,” he
said. “My whole office was unemployed
because I had to lay them
off and I would come in by myself
with a patient, do the palliative
care and advise them whenever
we open back up and could get
them in for further care.”
Despite the difficulties, the main
focus throughout this time has
been the patients.
“When you’ve got a group of
professionals who are all on the
same page and all striving to do
the best thing for the patients
24 • THRIVE • AUGUST 2020