SSM Health Medical Minute: SSM Health urgent care locations offer orthopedic care as alternative to ER
ST. LOUIS – SSM Health Urgent Care is an excellent alternative to the ER if you’re looking for treatment for common ailments or minor medical conditions.
But many patients don’t realize SSM Health offers orthopedic services at nine regional urgent care facilities for patients of all ages with sprains, strains, or minor fractures in collaboration with the orthopedic physicians at SSM Health hospitals.
“Our goal is to provide access. So we want to be able to be an alternative for the whole St. Louis community when it comes to non-emergent medical care,” Lauren Knight, the advanced practice provider and director of the SSM Health urgent care system in St. Louis, said.
She explains that the urgent care locations offer care to patients of all ages and that SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s urgent cares have two locations, one in north St. Louis County and one in south St. Louis County, to see minors 18 and under.
Every urgent care location has on-site X-ray technology where the X-rays are prepared by SSM Health radiologists.
“We are a one-stop shop for all of your family’s acute injuries or illnesses. So, in addition to illnesses, we treat many sports injuries or just your run-of-the-mill falls that you may have, especially this time of year on the ice,” Knight said. “And we are lucky enough to have orthopedic specialists who want to be involved with the urgent cares and want to keep those lines of communication open. So, we have great continuity of care for our patients.”
Having orthopedic specialists as part of the urgent care system gives patients confidence that their injury will be treated, and should an injury need advanced care, the urgent care members will schedule an appointment in the system right away.
“We identified a need to enhance the services that we already were providing to our patients. There are a lot of folks who have difficulty finding an orthopedic specialist. And so, we decided to look at what we could do to help that? How can we close that gap between injury and initial treatment and follow-up?” Knight said. “And so, we worked with our orthopedics sports medicine liaisons to come up with a program where we have constant access to them, and we can make sure that patients leave with an appointment.”
To find an SSM Health Urgent Care location, click here. Orthopedic patients can also call the hotline 24/7 at 833-776-7767.
The SSM Health Medical Minute airs Wednesdays on News 11 at 7 p.m. and FOX 2 News at 9 p.m.
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