Welcome to Our Practice
Our team provides the best gastroenterology care to the southern Puget Sound region by focusing on our patient’s experience and continually striving to improve safety, quality, accessibility, efficiency and cost containment. Our Board Certified physicians specialize in gastroenterology, hepatology, and related endoscopy procedures.
Our Advanced Practice Providers – ARNPs, PA-Cs and CRNAs – work closely with our physicians to provide our patients with the compassionate and evidence-based care they deserve.
Online Reviews
We appreciate the many positive online reviews our patients take the time to post about their experiences with our team. It’s heartwarming to hear from our patients who find those qualities reflected in the GI care they receive and in their interactions with our providers and staff. Please also know that we take any concerns an individual patient may have about their care very seriously. When needed, we have a process to review concerns and we follow it closely with the aim of improving our patient’s experience and updating our policies and processes.
In healthcare our hands are tied in terms of responding to any specific online review or statement. Simply by replying to an online post we would be crossing the line in terms of protecting the health information of our patient(s), which includes something as simple as confirming the patient was seen with someone on our team, let alone any specific information about their care or experience. We truly strive every day to ensure our patients are cared for with safe, high quality and empathetic care and trust that you understand that online comments are made from one perspective excluding the other point of view, which may have been an entirely different experience.
Living with COVID-19 (Coronavirus):
Your health and safety are our first priority. COVID-19 created a global pandemic being new in 2020 and with continued research data and information being released frequently. As WA State adjusts to this ever-changing pandemic, our providers continually follow this influx of information including CDC, national GI tri-Societies (ACG, AGA, ASGE) and local and WA State public health department and the Governor's office recommendations.
If you have been diagnosed with COVID in the past 10 days, have a temp >100.4 and/or new onset cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing or at least two of the following: fever, chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat or new loss of taste or smell, please cancel or reschedule your appointment (360-413-8250). Please also cancel or reschedule if you have had contact within last 10 days with a person showing symptoms of, being tested for or having diagnosis of COVID-19. Patients with a positive COVID test can return to our center on the 11th after symptoms began (assuming no continued fever and resolving symptoms).
As a healthcare facility, we continue to require all patients/visitors (vaccinated or not) to wear a mask that covers both the mouth and the nose. A clear face shield is not an acceptable form of facial covering by itself. It must be accompanied by direct covering of the mouth and nose.
What we know:
- The best way to prevent illness is to become fully vaccinated and to avoid being exposed to this virus.
- The CDC is recommending the new "bivalent" COVID vaccine booster, which has been available since Sept. 2, 2022.
- Please use this WA State DOH website to find out if you are currently eligible for vaccination and where you might locate vaccine: https://www.doh.wa.gov/Emergen...
- Governor Inslee is ending the State of Emergency in WA as of Oct. 31, 2022, related to the COVID pandemic although some requirements remain for healthcare facilities, including masking.
Protecting Your Health:
We have additional measures in place to help protect our patients from COVID-19, including but not limited to:
- We do not diagnose or treat COVID-19 patients on-site.
- If you have an on-site appointment and are ill with fever, cough, shortness of breath or other COVID-19 symptoms, please call us immediately to reschedule (360-413-8250).
- We do not allow anyone with a positive COVID-19 screen to remain on-site.
- We encourage persons accompanying patients to wait in the car and/or use multiple lobby areas to facilitate social distancing.
- We require face masks for all staff and providers and face masks/facial covering (nose and mouth) for every person on-site.
- We offer telehealth visits as an alternative to on-site visits.
- We have plexiglass barriers in place at all check-in/check-out desks.
- We provide hand sanitizer in multiple locations and encourage their use as well as adhering to strict handwashing/hand hygiene guidelines by our staff and providers.
- Our water fountains are turned off.
- We monitor CDC, national GI tri-Societies (ACG, AGA, ASGE) and local and WA State public health department recommendations and adjust our protocols accordingly.
Risks of Venturing Out in Public:
- Some studies suggest that COVID-19 may be spread by people who do not have symptoms.
- We understand weighing the benefits and risks of attending an in-person appointment with COVID prevalent in the community may be difficult. Each individual comes to us with a unique health history, chronic health conditions, new or chronic symptoms and/or the potential for silent health conditions (such as undiagnosed colon polyps, Barrett’s esophagus or cancer). Some chronic health conditions increase the risk of COVID-19 complications should an individual contract COVID-19.
- Weighing the risks of COVID-19 complications versus not treating GI health concerns is something that should be reviewed and considered on an individual basis. While choosing to be seen in person for an appointment or procedure which is non-emergent has risks, as the pandemic spans more time, the risks of the untreated health issue may outweigh the risk of the likelihood of COVID-19 complications for particular individuals. We are happy to help our established patients review your particular risks for an in person visit. Please contact us through our Patient Portal or at 360-413-8250 for assistance, if needed. If you are not an established patient at Gastroenterology Associates, please contact your primary care provider (or provider who knows your health history) to review your risks versus benefits.
Other Resources:
- Information on proper masking: https://www.cdc.gov/coronaviru...
- https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html
- https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html
- https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html