Oconee Needs ER Alternatives

If your son or daughter had an emergency medical need of say, a two-inch long deep gash on a finger and you woke up to find him/her in need, where would you take your loved one to get stitched up in a big hurry on a Saturday morning?

First of all, let me say for the record I am well aware of the outstanding hospitals no more than 15 minutes away in Athens-Clarke County. I am also well aware that many of the highly qualified and well-trained doctors and nurses live in Oconee County, and there are ambulances parked in Watkinsville ready to transport any patient to these well-staffed and prepared facilities at a moment's notice, night or day.

But let me illustrate an intermediate and yet immediate need for quick medical care. I am willing to wager most families in Oconee have had similar needs, whether it is an ingrown toenail finally getting taken care of, or a broken bone or torn ligament on the soccer field.

 We have been treated by a growing medical phenomenon of what has been called (somewhat derisively) a" doc in a box."  These are often hospital-related ambulatory care facilities, pretty much meaning if you can walk (amble) into the office, they can treat you there.  These became very popular during the 1980s and provide a legitimate medical alternative to the Emergency Room, perhaps as an evolution from the ill-fated HMOs of that decade. For anything that warrants a ride in an ambulance, you should definitely go to the hospital.

But, once again, there is a great grey area between the need for driving fast to one of the two great hospitals in Athens and getting a band-aid for a boo-boo at the grocery store. Just what is the difference between urgent and acute care anyhow?

I want to give thanks to the neighbors who quickly called and got me on my way with my son. He had been spending the night across the street and woke up to try to slam dunk on a lowered goal only to pull the entire apparatus -- pole, goal, rim and backboard -- down on him and his friend due to a rusty support pole.  My neighbor's medicine chest had all the proper bandages for just such an emergency.  My son will not be practicing his dribbling or shooting with his left hand anytime soon, but he at least will have a good excuse to watch a whole lot of basketball games this weekend on television.

I am quite grateful for the outstanding work we received at the Athens Regional satellite facility called . Dr. Zimmerman and staff took great care of my son and stitched him up, and the nurses welcomed him after I said the magic words “head injury,” although that was really the least of his immediate needs.

But watching your own child suffer when you are at any facility expecting prompt medical care is the most frustrating thing imaginable, and I had people in the waiting room offer their place in line watching my son writhe in pain in the chair. I was unaware if he had suffered a concussion or was going into shock or anything serious.

I was very close to asking the receptionist to dial 9-1-1 and request an ambulance ride to the quite capable hands of St. Mary’s hospital and Dr. Neal Priest when they took my son into the closest examination room and took his vitals to make sure there was no overwhelming need for such drastic measures.

Repeatedly though, the staff at Regional First Care made me well aware of the fact that they are not set up to receive patients in need of emergency care, and evidently neither is the satellite facility on Highway 316 nor is the deceptively named Reddy Urgent Care, located in the Oconee County part of Athens near the and .

Admittedly I have never stepped foot in the local Reddy Urgent Care facility, but  word of mouth and some of the mixed online reviews of the latter facility are enough to keep me away.

Once again, I am not a medical professional, and the closest I can come to claiming to have any practical experience in an ambulatory facility was the two plus years I spent as the materials assistant at the University Health Center on the campus of the University of Georgia. Even though they have an acute care clinic there, the most frustrating time of my life, I recall, was watching my favorite professor succumb to a heart attack while playing basketball next to that facility. Thank goodness there are now defibrillators at both facilities.

I would like to see an acute care facility in Oconee where you could take your child with a severe sports injury, a small hunting accident or a bleeding bite by a dog or snake and remain confident in competent care quickly and professionally offered. I realize that medical professionals are not going to consult me for their next decision on what to build where, but there is a need for something 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week to take care of minor medical emergencies and problems short of having a limb removed by a chainsaw.