OC 'concierge doctor' making individual house calls to test for COVID-19 amid coronavirus pandemic

Wednesday, April 1, 2020
CORONA DEL MAR, Calif. (KABC) -- Corona Del Mar "concierge doctor" Dr. Iman Bar is taking on the novel coronavirus through testing one house call at a time.

"I have done it where I go out to the front of their house, if it's a garden or a yard, it's safer even, if they're not too sick and I see them outside and it's fresh air and everything," said Bar. "But I've seen sick patients, which then I had to go in and that's why just everything, my whole equipment, everything I have to sanitize it again and again and again."
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Right now she's doing four to five tests a day, but she hopes to do more as the need rises.

"My car is my clinic so everything is sprayed in there. My trunk is my little office right now. I have the biohazard bag, I have the stuff that I'm gonna take in a zip-lock, I spray it with alcohol, I'm washing my hands. I come back and take a shower then go out again," she said.

That means more personal protective equipment than usual, which as we know is hard to come by.
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"Even trying to go to other vendors, but I have to buy 10,000 gowns, 10,000 masks, which I can't. And of course they're more expensive than usual," said Bar, who has taken one day off in the last two and a half weeks, trying to stay healthy herself while serving one of the hardest hit areas in Orange County, Newport Beach. She's even started a YouTube page to help educate.

"I can help all my patients in my community as much as I can. As long as I have the energy, I'll do it, everyday," she said. "Not everyone is comfortable with it, but I think, that's how I wanted to serve really and hopefully I make a difference."



Of course with a house call, you're paying for convenience. Dr. Bar normally costs $400 per visit, but during the pandemic, she's lowered it to $260. As for the testing and lab work, she says that can be paid by insurance.

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