Wellness
I Need It NOW!!
How to tell if you should use the emergency room or urgent care
story Kenneth Dey
photo courtesy of St. Luke’s
t’s nine in the evening and your child a doctor, or are visiting from out of town. • Broken bones, sprains
i
has been running a fever since early af- this ties up the emergency department • Cuts that need stitching
ternoon. Medicine has not helped, and with cases that are not real emergencies. • Flu shots, physicals
your doctor’s office has long since closed. these patients are definite candidates for • Foreign material in the eye
treatment at an urgent care clinic, where • Mild to moderate asthma
What do you do?
they can walk in and receive the care they • nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
does your situation warrant a trip to
need. • neck or back pain
an emergency department, or can the care
every situation is different, but when it
• Prescription refills
your child needs be easily provided at an
comes to your family’s health, it’s important
• Pink eye
urgent care facility? is the urgent care facil-
to know some general guidelines on where
• Puncture wounds
ity even open?
to go for the right medical care.
• runny nose, sinus trouble
the emergency department operates 24
• Skin rash, itch, sunburn
hours a day, but a less serious condition
Call 9-1-1 or go to the closest hospital
• Sore throat, earache, fever
could mean a long wait for treatment that
emergency department for conditions
• Urinary tract infections
could have been handled by an urgent care
that could be life-threatening if not treat-
provider.
ed immediately. These may include:
the care you choose depends on the
an emergency department rightly focus-
• Chest pain
severity of the condition. always go with
es on the most serious cases first. an urgent
• difficulty breathing
your best judgment. use the emergency
care provider sees patients in the order in
• head injury
department for true emergencies, and use
which they arrive.
• heart attack
your primary care physician or an urgent
urgent care facilities are typically still
• loss of consciousness
care provider for less serious but still ur-
open at 9 p.m., and the providers on staff
• Multiple fractures
gent medical issues.
can most likely treat your child’s fever and
• Severe abdominal pain
Eagle is served by emergency departments at Saint
diagnose the cause. if they determine that
• Severe bleeding
Alphonsus Eagle Medical Plaza on the corner of
the situation is more serious, they can ar-
• Severe shortness of breath
Eagle Road and Highway 44, and St. Luke’s Me-
range to transport your child to the hospi-
• Stroke
ridian Medical Center at Eagle Road and I84. In
tal. the health care providers at an urgent
addition, St. Luke’s Eagle Urgent Care, located
people often go to the emergency depart- care facility can treat conditions that are at Highway 44 and North Horseshoe Bend Road,
ment when they can’t get in immediately to not life-threatening, but need medical at- provides urgent care services to Eagle and the sur-
see their primary care doctor, don’t have tention. these may include: rounding area.
St. Luke’s Eagle Urgent Care is open
until 10 p.m., seven days a week.
may | JuNe 2009 39
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