Inside the Clinic: The Ear Ache Edition
Good Day Community!
Last night I had an experience that brought home to me the importance of easy access to healthcare.
My son came home from school with an earache that grew into a raging, throbbing pain over the next couple of hours. In the midst of peeling potatoes, I looked at his face, grabbed my bag, and got in the car to take him to the pharmacy/walk-in clinic across the road. No appointments available.
We headed to what I thought was an Urgent Care clinic in the town center, but it turned out to be an emergency room (how did I not know that?) and, though I could see the silent agony on my son’s face, I took out my phone to find the nearest Urgent Care. A mile down the road, yay! Off we drove.
It was closed.
We sat in the car while busy people raced around us to get home or pick up the evening dinner. My mind was racing, too. I knew of an Urgent Care to which I had taken my kids many times before, but it was a few miles away. The ER was a mile away, but the co-pay and other potential expenses would have been a lot of $$$....
We headed to the Urgent Care further away. Thankfully, it was open, with only one patient ahead of us. We entered and started to sign in when we discovered my son didn’t have his ID (welcome to adulthood, my dear son). Without this “paperwork” the Clinic couldn’t see him. What to do? We drove all the way home and then back again. We were now fourth in line.
As I sat waiting for my son, I watched folks come and go. A mom, in obvious pain, with little kids that she probably had to bring with her because there was no one home, I assume, to mind them. A father trying to pay in cash while his son, looking irritable and tired with the process, yanks on his sleeve....
I could feel my own frustration at trying to access (affordable) care begin to dissipate as I knew my son was now in good hands. I thought how glad I was that I had a car to get us there (eventually) and didn’t have to ask a friend for a ride or wait for a bus (or two or three that we might need to get us to our destination); that we have insurance with a small co-pay for urgent care; and that I can leave my other kids at home (and be happily surprised that they finished making dinner!).
My son emerged with a faint I-told-you-it-was-super-bad smile: it was a bad ear infection. I looked at the prescription and saw it was signed by an FNP - Family Nurse Practitioner - and I immediately thought of our very own FNP, Becky Reynolds who comes every week to give the best of care to our patients. I thought of how Culmore Clinic – though not an urgent care facility – has long tried to meet the urgent need for easy access to medical care for so many residents of Bailey’s Crossroads/Culmore. We are just one piece of the big healthcare pie, but I am so glad we can check that box. And it’s not just me saying it. Anecdotal reports from a student intern who has been conducting a patient satisfaction survey over the last month indicate patients are saying it too! Stay tuned for more on that as the intern wraps up her report!
Another box we can check this month is the launch of our pilot, Turning the Curve for Patients Living with Prediabetes and Diabetes. Next week we are hosting a kick-off event with NOVA Scripts Central and hope to encourage patients to engage in an integrated approach to improving their health and wellbeing. Stay tuned for more news on that, too!
Don’t forget to join our Coffee@Culmore Clinic virtual open house this Friday at 9 AM! Oh, to be welcoming our friends and supporters back onsite again this time next year....
Stay warm out there!
Anne-Lise