A wash-ashore turns to urgent care
Susan Grant moved to the Cape three years ago but, like many wash-ashores, she kept her primary care physician in Boston. So, when she needed quick treatment for a health issue, she went to one of Cape Cod Healthcare’s six Urgent Care centers.
“You’re dealing with folks that, in my opinion, are very compassionate,” she said. “You go in, they’re definitely concerned and asking you the right questions.”
CCHC operates six urgent care centers that run seven days a week. The Hyannis, Harwich, Falmouth and Sandwich locations are open year-round. Osterville and Orleans are seasonal, from May to early fall. A seventh urgent care center will be opening in The Pinehills in Plymouth in early July. The centers see about 125,000 patients annually and treat health problems that don’t require the level of treatment available only in emergency departments at Falmouth Hospital and Cape Cod Hospital.
Grant, a real estate agent who lives in Marstons Mills, first went to the Osterville Urgent Care center at 770 Main Street, where she was grateful to not spend hours waiting in an emergency department.
The next time, she went to Stoneman on Jan Sebastian Drive, just off Route 130, in Sandwich, and was pleased with the technology.
“You walk in and they have a kiosk, and you enter your information so you’re not having to take up the receptionist’s time,” she said.
At Stoneman, she also was impressed that the doctor took time to answer questions about an orthopedic issue that had nothing to do with what had brought her to urgent care in the first place.
“I explained what was going on and he immediately said, ‘I'm going to get you the name of an orthopedic person and I want you to give them a call and follow up with this.’” And, she was able to keep her primary care physician informed by using MyChart, CCHC’s electronic patient gateway.
She appreciates the professionalism at both locations.
“The nurses and the doctors that I've seen in both Osterville and Sandwich are healthcare providers that appear to me to have been in the industry for years. They're seasoned healthcare professionals,” she said.
Although the trip to Stoneman took a bit longer – about three hours – Grant suspects treatment would have taken longer in the ER. And, she said, she and her husband forgot to check urgent care wait times on the CCHC website before they went.
“I just looked at the waiting room and I knew I’m going to be waiting a while when there’s so many other people there. But I’m one of those people that just realize doctors and nurses are busy, and you’re going to have to wait. I’m not impatient,” said Grant, whose daughter is a nurse.
These days Grant is back to working, gardening, walking, riding her bike and helping with her grandson.
