Covid-19 and Endometriosis

Dr. Seckin and the team at Seckin Endometriosis Center are here for you during the Covid-19 pandemic. Our goal is to maintain your continuity of care while keeping you and your family safe. We are now offering HIPAA-compliant Telemedicine Consultations, as well as Office Visits. Please read the following details:   

Our appointments during Covid-19

New patients

We are currently seeing a limited number of new patients. Please call the office for further details or to schedule an appointment. We are also offering telemedicine for your safety and convenience M-F. Please call to book an appointment.

Routine check-ups

If you are currently scheduled for a routine check-up, we ask that you please reschedule for a future date or consider a Zoom video conferencing follow-up. Until our office reopens, all appointments will be scheduled for Telehealth, including follow-up and post-op visits. Please call our office or email Dannay directly at dannay@drseckin.com to book an appointment. Our date for re-opening and starting surgeries is dependent on CDC, NY State, and Northwell Health/Lenox Hill Hospital protocol. Your safety is our priority.

Surgery patients

To our surgery patients: Effective as of Wednesday, March 25th, Governor Cuomo responded to the U.S. Surgeon General’s guidelines and canceled all nonessential surgeries and procedures. This change means “elective” surgeries such as ours are postponed to minimize COVID-19 exposure for patients and staff, and also to free up beds and PPE resources for patients with COVID-19 during the outbreak. Our office will resume surgeries when the CDC, the Governor, and our healthcare system, Northwell Health/Lenox Hill Hospital, announce it safe to do so. In the meantime, you may call our office or email Kim directly at kim@drseckin.com for surgery scheduling and billing-related questions. 

Prescription refill

We are available to discuss prescriptions and test results. We recommend that you renew prescriptions a week in advance to ensure that they are available on time.  

Emergencies 

If you have an emergency please call 911. If you need to reach a doctor after hours, you may call the office and the answering service will assist you. Please expect longer than normal wait times to speak with a representative.

Please remove any setting from your phone which blocks unknown callers to ensure that our doctors and staff can reach you from their personal cell phones.

We may need to modify these instructions over time as the situation evolves and will send email updates when necessary. Please feel comfortable to call or email us with any questions or concerns you may have. 

Risks of Covid-19 for women with endometriosis

Women with endometriosis are not at an increased risk of contracting COVID-19. We continue to recommend strict adherence to social distancing and infection control, including frequent hand-washing. 

Resuming office visits

When it is safe to resume office hours, we will be taking extra safety measures. We will screen patients by phone the day before an appointment for symptoms of COVID-19. Upon arrival, we will dispense gloves and masks and check your temperature. We will not be shaking hands or hugging as many of you may have become accustomed to. Please don’t take offense! Visitors and family members will be restricted from joining appointments to allow for social distancing in the waiting area. We are happy to accommodate patients who prefer to use telehealth even after our office reopens. 

Currently, the hospital has restarted emergency surgeries only. We understand this is frustrating and painful. Just know that your care is our top priority. We will notify you as soon as the hospital resumes a regular surgical schedule. Please be patient with our surgical scheduling team. We will do all we can to schedule surgeries in an efficient and timely manner.

The hospital is doing the best it can to get emergency surgeries scheduled first. The hospital reviews each case and imaging for urgency, and it independently decides whether or not it is safe to operate. Laparoscopy is a high-risk “aerosol” producing procedure, meaning that even if you test negative for COVID-19, you could still cause infection transmission to OR staff and surgeons. As of now, all surgical patients are required to test negative for COVID-19 at the Lenox Hill lab within three days before a scheduled procedure. 

Resources

• ACOG guidelines – Joint Statement: Roadmap for Resuming Elective Surgery after COVID-19 Pandemic
• Northwell Health/Lenox Hill Hospital response to COVID-19 – elective surgeries policy 
• NYS Gov Information on Coronavirus, New Jersey Gov Information on Coronavirus,  CT Gov Information on Coronavirus,  
• Endometriosis Foundation of America Resources: There are resources for COVID-19 and Endo on the Endometriosis Foundation of America (endofound.org) Resource Hub. Dr. Seckin has been participating in webinars twice a month with various guests to discuss the many facets of COVID-19 and endo. You can sign up there for future webinars and also view archived ones.  

Emotional support during the Covid-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended life for all New Yorkers. If you or a loved one are struggling with stress, anxiety, or depression, trying to cope with isolation, or are feeling overwhelmed by the various uncertainties that come with our new reality, you need to know that you are never alone and help is always available. To support the state’s response to COVID-19, New York asked mental health professionals to volunteer to launch a 24/7 hotline to assist those who need emotional support or mental health assistance. As of today, over 10,000 mental health professionals have answered the call, helping to make that toll-free hotline a reality. You can now reach a trained mental health professional anytime by calling 1-844-863-9314.