Strategic planning: Keep people moving

Q. How do we provide good service and timely repair during the current COVID-19 pandemic?

A. The service and repair departments are vital to making sure our clients are taken care of when they need us most in the crisis we are facing.

Some companies are turning away clients, leaving them with no way to complete their MRADLs or causing them to risk more exposure with additional care coming into their homes. We need to do better, whether that be through phone troubleshooting and virtual assistance when possible to reduce visits to the repair shop, or dispatching a technician to the home if required.

When taking repair and service calls, troubleshooting over the phone not only allows us to reduce the number of call-outs, but also provides better information to reduce the time the technician is at the client's home and ensures the technician has the needed tools/parts to complete the job as quickly as possible.

If a call-out is needed, we need to ensure we follow strict measures to remove the equipment from the home whenever possible (e.g. powerchairs and manual wheelchairs) and work on their equipment outside or in the van if needed.

When we can't remove the equipment from a home and it must be repaired inside the house, we need to take proper safety precautions by wearing gloves and masks, sanitizing equipment before and after repairs, and cleaning hands when leaving the home.

During one of the most devastating and challenging times in our industry, we need to keep people moving so they can maintain their health when they need it most.

Bill Paul is CEO at ATLAS-RPM Professional Services. Reach him at bpaul@ATLAS-VUE.com.