Just as surely as the sun rises in the East and it rains after you wash your car, your child will become sick or injured the minute your pediatrician closes up on Friday afternoon. Count on it.
Doctors Express is a new urgent care clinic opening this week in Lake Highlands, with services falling somewhere between the routine, repetitive stuff your primary care physician might do and the catastrophes that would send you to the ER. They can do digital x-rays and lab work onsite, handling everything from cuts and bruises to fractures and flu. Best of all, they’re open 8am to 8pm Monday-Friday and 8 to 5 on weekends.
After opening its doors last Wednesday, the clinic will host a Community Open House this Saturday from 10 to 2, with balloon artists, refreshments, blood pressure checks & other health screenings, guided tours and giveaways.
Doctors Express refurbished the corner of Skillman and Royal, adding up-to-date equipment and a comfortable waiting room. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed because this is a pivotal center in Lake Highlands,” Councilman Jerry Allen told me at the ribbon-cutting ceremony last night. “There are 76,000 people within a two-mile radius, that’s 3,600 households.”
Doctors Express accepts most insurance but not appointments – walk-ins sign in for treatment – but you can go online to provide your information and get on the list, then travel to the clinic to see the doctor. Every patient is seen by a physician, who accesses your records on a portable computer tablet. Prescriptions are sent directly to your pharmacy – there’s nothing worse than standing in line at Walgreen’s when you’re sick or hurting.
“We’ve put healthcare in a retail setting and designed it to be easier for the patient,” said Carol Ansley, CEO of Doctors Express. “After a trip to the ER, lots of people ask themselves, ‘Why did I just spend $1500 on a sore throat?’ About 38% of ER visits could have been handled by our facility. We are the convenient, affordable and easily-accessible high-quality health care choice when they cannot get an appointment with their primary care physician or they need urgent care.”
