Message from Dr. Urig, AOA President

Hi everyone,

We at AOA; from our front office staff, to our back office medical staff; physicians , nurse practitioners, nurses, physician assistants, and midwives, to our IT and administrative staff, are working tirelessly with our reduced office hours to ensure that you continue to get the excellent medical care you need and deserve from our many branches across the valley. We want to ensure you that we are doing our part to flatten the curve. We are limiting the hours and number of people in our branches to ensure appropriate physical distancing.

We have instituted telemedicine visits to help address gynecologic and obstetrical issues and to limit the number of patients in our waiting rooms and branches. If you have any problems or concerns, please call one of our offices and we will determine if we can do a Telehealth visit or if we need to see you in person.

For patients coming to our branches, we ask a few things to help us keep everybody safe and healthy.

If you have any symptoms of headache, sore throat, cough, or fever, we ask that you call the practice first so we can decide the best method of care for you. If you have access to a homemade mask, a simple bandanna cloth mask which you can find on the Internet with instructions to make, please wear them to your appointment. We are running low on mask supplies and this can help us keep all of our staff masked to insure your safety.

Please plan on coming to meet with your medical provider alone. Feel free to bring a phone for FaceTime during your visit so you can share with a loved one.

To all of our AOA family working hard to ensure that all patients are treated with dignity and care, I thank you. We are doing everything we can to bring you all back to full-time work so we can be family again as soon as possible.

Please be sure to take care of yourselves. If you feel sick, stay home. Your health and well-being are the most important factor in all of this.

Each day I am inspired by all you do for our community and patients. For the physicians and providers in the hospitals, I am proud to work alongside of you on the front lines. Many of our physicians are leaders at all of our hospitals across the valley. We are working hard to make sure that our hospitals continue to provide safe and excellent care. I assure you the hospitals are doing a great job.

Things will be different for many months to come so I ask for your patience as we navigate these uncharted waters. There are signs that society may be reopening parts at a time. We want to assure you that we will take steps in line with our local and national authorities, especially our American Congress of OB/Gyn and the CDC to maximize all of our safety.

We will come out of this different, but hopefully that will mean we are more cohesive, more compassionate, and more patient.

From the bottom of my heart, I thank all of you.

Michael Urig MD
President, AOA Board of Directors