Thanks so much Brandon!

As an aside (or two or three), I met with my team as a whole yesterday (three in the office/social distancing, masks and gloves enforced, and three on Zoom). Using your message, as well as information from lengthy discussions with my accountant and employment attorney, I shared background information and my/our (my wife Wendy works with us three days a week) decision to furlough the team. I made sure to go around "the room" and asked each of them to share any concerns/questions with the group, while assuring them that they could also come to me personally (by phone or text). I also gave each team member a package of materials that I had printed up from the Ohio.Gov website on unemployment during the coronavirus; this included instructions on filing for unemployment and FAQ. The group discussion, though at times difficult, was very productive. Interestingly, their biggest concern was that I/we would continue to work once this period ended and they would have their jobs back (which may be a reflection of my age and/or the uncertainty that this epidemic would come to an end.)

The information that you shared was critical to helping us through this. They were thrilled to know about the $600.00 per week government "subsidy" and were reassured that we had done our "due diligence" before making this decision. Researching all of this on Monday night (and into Tuesday morning (from about 1:30 to 4:30am when I couldn't sleep), I also found that they could get a little extra income (at least in Ohio) by working an hour or two a week, as long as the "income" was less than 20% of their weekly unemployment benefit. (They may come in alternate days to answer the mail, phone, etc.) As we have always had an answering service (not just a "phone machine,") the service is on alert and will direct any patients or callers with questions to my cell phone or website. After leaving the office and meeting, I went to Key Bank and made our end-of-month deposits through the drive-through. I took the opportunity to ask the "teller" to have the branch manager call me about the PPP loan; the manager called me later in the day to let me know that she would send me the information as she received it so that we could move forward.

I thought I would share this rather lengthy correspondence with you to both let you know how much I appreciated the presentation and to let you know how it helped in a very practical way (which, after all, is the goal of these presentations). You are welcome to use my experience as an example of how dental "owners" can approach this "situation."

-Steven Marsh, DDS
Cleveland, OH