Austin Regional Clinic opened its first same-day, after-hours care facility in Cedar Park on May 1. The stand-alone clinic offers treatment for minor emergencies for adults and children, including fractures, sprains, colds and flu, minor burns, ear infections and seasonal allergies.
“Same-day care covers ills, chills and spills—any illnesses or any same-day issues that pop up,” said Darlene Guynes, clinic manager for ARC Now, ARC Cedar Park and ARC Leander.
Guynes said there is increasing health care demands in Cedar Park and surrounding areas.
“This is a very young community; they don’t want to take off work; they just want to be seen as soon as they can get in that’s convenient for them,” she said. “Having convenient access right there in your community means you don’t have to drive all over town.”
The Now Clinic is open seven days a week and offers same-day appointments during the day, evenings and weekends. Along with the ability to treat minor emergencies, Guynes said the facility is outfitted with orthopedic needs, radiology and a laboratory.
“They can go straight to this clinic instead of driving downtown to Round Rock, and then they can get their care, their X-rays and then get an appointment made with orthopedic,” she said.
Carlton Inniss, ARC’s senior director of clinical operations, said being open on the weekend is an added benefit for the community.
“[People] have someplace in Cedar Park that can actually treat them, stabilize them Saturday or Sunday, and then Monday they can have an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon if it needs to be done,” he said.
Inniss said patients are triaged over the phone or once they come into the facility. This way, ARC ensures patients receive the exact level of care they need.
Medical records can also be shared electronically throughout the system, which Guynes said helps streamline communication more easily to create better continuity of care.
The Cedar Park Austin Regional Clinic campus started about 12 years ago with two doctors in one facility.
“We quickly grew into our original building, which is 5,000 square feet,” Guynes said. We’ve added since then in specialty, pediatrics, internal medicine.”
Guynes said increasing the amount of services offered on the Cedar Park campus helps keep patients in the community.
Looking forward, Inniss said the broad goal of the company is to “continue to enhance access to the community.” He said there are several other ARC locations being renovated.
“Cedar Park is a perfect representation for the type of communities that Austin Regional does well in,” he said.
