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July 22, 2010
News Releases
 Medical and injury cases
ranging from respiratory infections to broken bones have been seen and treated
during the first month of operation of the MedFast Urgent Care Center at the
Parrish Healthcare Center at Port St. John, a service of Parrish Medical Center
(PMC). MedFast is North Brevard’s first comprehensive urgent care facility.
Response from the community has been excellent,
according to PMC officials. The urgent care center is exceeding patient
experience expectations and providing convenient access to healthcare services
close to home.
Sprains and strains have been the most common injuries among the hundreds
of urgent care needs seen by MedFast physicians.
Before MedFast’s opening many, or most, of those people
seeking treatment would have gone to an emergency room, said Dr. David Williams,
MedFast’s medical director and board-certified emergency medicine
physician.
However, an
urgent care center like MedFast gives them fast and less expensive health
treatment than provided at emergency rooms, which are equipped, staffed and
intended for serious and life-threatening cases.
“We’re accomplishing two things — taking care of people
quickly and freeing up the emergency room for the cases it is designed to see,”
Dr. Williams said. “We’re open seven days a week, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., so
we’re also open and helping people when their primary care doctors’ offices are
closed. We communicate with doctors about all treatment we provide to their
patients.”
MedFast Urgent Care Center treats fractures; cuts
needing stitches; acute pain; sprains and strains; infections; and other,
nonlife-threatening medical conditions.
Parrish Medical Center’s emergency department medical
director Dr. Francisco Garcia said MedFast’s ability to treat a wide assortment
of illnesses and injuries is a significant addition to the community’s
healthcare system.
“Cooperation between the community, primary physicians,
emergency departments and urgent care providers creates a network of options
that gets people in the right hands at the right time for the right level of
care,” said Dr. Garcia.
According to the Urgent Care Association of America
(UCAOA), urgent care center scope of services are not at the same level as
emergency departments, but are more extensive and comprehensive than retail care
centers (often found in department stores such as Walmart, CVS, and other retail
centers).
Retail clinics use nurse practitioners in principal care
roles. Most urgent care centers employ primary care physicians to treat
patients. MedFast goes one step further, employing emergency room-experienced
physicians and other medical professionals in principal care roles.
There are over 8,500 urgent care centers in the U.S. and
approximately 4,600 emergency departments, according to the UCAOA and AHA
Trendwatch Sourcebook.
The MedFast Urgent Care Center at the Parrish Healthcare
Center is located at 5005 Port St. John (east of I-95). The MedFast Urgent Care
Center—PSJ can be reached at 321- 633-8620.
About MedFast Urgent Care
- Emergency room-experienced physicians, physician
assistants and nurse practitioners, seven days a week, 9 a.m. to 7
p.m.
- Results/medical record of urgent care visits, including
images, sent to patient’s primary care physician.
- Most insurance plans and cash payments are accepted for
services.
- Advanced urgent care services include: abdominal pain;
asthma/bronchitis/sinusitis, cellulitis; infections (ear, urinary tract,
respiratory, etc.); fractures; gastrointestinal (GI) or genitourinary (GU)
complaints; general medicine; headaches; lacerations (stitches); pelvic pain;
sprains/strains/sports injuries; physicals: annual/basic (ages 18+), camp,
executive, school, sports and DOT/DOE/OSHA/Resp.
- The MedFast Urgent Care Center has use of the
full-service diagnostic services available at Parrish Healthcare Center at Port
St. John, which includes: CT; MRI; ultrasound; x-ray; mammography (all digital);
heart function testing (stress, nuclear, EKG and others); laboratory (blood)
testing; full-time physician specialists; diabetes support and education; wound
healing; physical and occupational therapy; and sleep disorder diagnosis and
treatment.
More about MedFast Urgent Care Center |