Urgent care clinics bridge the gap between primary care providers, emergency rooms
Your child woke up with a high fever on a Sunday morning. You cut your finger making dinner on a Tuesday evening. Your primary care physician is closed, but a trip to the emergency room seems like a time-consuming and costly treatment option.
You can get the care you need by visiting an AFC Urgent Care Bon Secours clinic instead. Each of the 16 convenient locations across the Upstate is equipped to handle illnesses or minor injuries, from respiratory and gastrointestinal viruses to burns, cuts, falls, allergic reactions, and more.
“Urgent care is unique because we are available when primary care is not—after-hours and on weekends, when your primary care doctor is full, or when you’re traveling and need a forgotten medicine or treatment,” says Dr. Matthew Delfino, regional medical director for AFC Urgent Care Bon Secours.
“We don’t want to replace your primary care doctor. We want to exist by bridging the gap,” he says, adding that you should go to the emergency room for “anything where you feel like, ‘Hey, my life is in danger’.”
Besides treating illnesses and injuries, AFC Urgent Care Bon Secours clinics also provide “what we refer to as occupational health care, like drug screens for employment, pre-employment exams, and work injuries,” Delfino says, adding that clinics can complete sports physicals as well.
While often asked about vaccines, Delfino says the clinics typically provide back-to-school tetanus shots for students who need it, tetanus shots following an injury, and flu shots. “We don’t really do a lot of routine childhood vaccines or travel vaccines. That’s a better thing to do at your primary care office,” he adds.
Each AFC Urgent Care Bon Secours clinic–staffed with either a physician, a nurse practitioner, or a physician’s assistant, nurses, and an X-ray tech–can make referrals for ultrasounds and other advanced imaging if needed. They also can refer you to specialized care providers, such as orthopedics for injuries and cardiology for chest pain follow-ups.
You don’t need an appointment to visit an urgent care clinic, but you should bring your insurance card and payment for co-pays or the visit itself. “You can walk in during operating hours and be seen,” Delfino says, adding that you also can get in the queue by visiting the clinic’s website before you arrive.
“You’re not making an appointment for a specific time. The system tells you when to head over to the clinic, and your place in line is held for you,” he says.
AFC Urgent Care Bon Secours clinics are open Mondays to Fridays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. To find a location near you, visit bonsecours.com/locations/walk-in-urgent-care/greenville.
