Center offers after-hours alternative for parents

A soaring fever or a terrible fall doesn't always happen between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. That's where Urgent Care for Kids steps in.

When most pediatricians' offices are closed, the Colleyville business provides medical services, including X-rays, EKGs and lab work, for newborns to 18-year-olds.

"You come to something like this, you want to leave the doctor knowing what you've got," explained Brian White, co-owner of the business, which also has a location in Keller.

The businesses also offer some preventative care, like flu shots, and provide camp and sports physicals for children.

White said he wants to provide a welcoming environment for everyone who comes through the door. The waiting area and exam rooms provide distractions, such as books, for children to make them feel more comfortable. On the walls of the waiting room are flat-screen TVs. One shows cartoons for kids; the other displays news for parents. There is also Wi-Fi.

White worked in medical real estate for about six years and has more recently visited emergency rooms and pediatrician offices with his infant son. Those experiences have helped him hone what he wants for his Urgent Care for Kids clinics.

"Through [that work], I got exposed to all sorts of different types of hospitals and urgent cares, and everything you can ever imagine — imaging centers — and I really fell in love with this concept," White said.

The business tries to combine a friendly staff with efficient patient care. Instead of having to wait for hours, such as is often the case in emergency rooms, patients are seen quickly. The goal is never having a wait of longer than 30 minutes, White said.

"There's rarely a wait time [and] you get to see a pediatrician ... some of these other adult urgent cares, you're not always seeing a pediatrician," White said. "Same thing with pediatric nurses."

When the clinic first opened last fall, about one patient would come in a day, but it is growing.

"Now we're consistently having double-digit days," White said.

Each center has one doctor, nurse, lab technician and receptionist on duty at all times, as well as an on-call doctor and nurse on the weekends.

Colleyville nurse Angela Ferguson has worked in pediatrics for 15 years. She said she remembers one 6-year-old patient who cut his knee while taking the trash out for the first time. She worked to calm him while he got stitches.

"He was very brave," Ferguson said. "He was very scared, but he was very brave."

The Urgent Care for Kids staff treats everything it can, but sometimes when people come in, their problem is a bit too much. If that is the case, the medical director, Gina Fowler, will check with area hospitals to determine where the child can be treated quickly so the parents don't have to wander from hospital to hospital, White said.

"It's a dream job," White said. "It's a ton of work, but it's so rewarding. ... I can go home thinking, 'All right, maybe helped some kids,' or at the very least we saved some families three hours waiting in an emergency room."

Urgent Care for Kids, 5611 Colleyville Blvd., Ste. 100, Colleyville, 817-485-6000, www.urgentcarekids.com