?Another layer of community healthcare': Family Medicine and Urgent Care opens Monday

Grand Island will welcome a new health care provider when Family Medicine and Urgent Care opens Monday.

Dawn Nahrstedt, a certified nurse practitioner, will manage the clinic at 423 W. Fourth St.

Nahrstedt said the new clinic is committed to offering a "myriad of health-care services," including those that are "patient-centered, safe, effective, evidence-based, lifestyle change focused, age-appropriate, educational and as narcotic free as possible."

Family Medicine and Urgent Care is adjacent to U Save Pharmacy; Mike Hamik and Bill Snodgrass are the owners of both. This is the second U Save Pharmacy to open a clinic. Grand Island native Jose Guerrero has served as the pharmacy manager since it opened in 2010.

Guerrero said the idea behind the clinic is to provide immediate care for someone who is sick or injured.

"People come here, and they can take care of you right away," he said.

Family Medicine and Urgent Care offers the following services: acute care visits (walk-in care) for acute infections and injuries; wound care and laceration repair; Department of Transportation physicals; drug and alcohol testing; management of work-related injuries/simple trauma; acute illness; well child/teen visits; sports physicals; vaccinations; annual physical examinations; pre-employment physicals; preventative care; well women examinations; pre-operative clearance; lesion removal and cryotherapy; weight loss management; STD screening; coumadin therapy management; and chronic disease management, such as diabetes, mellitus, hypertension and high cholesterol.

Staff members also perform labs for influenza A and B, RSV, mono, blood glucose, hemoglobin Alc, urinalysis, PT/INR, rapid Step A and B and urine pregnancy.

Having U Save Pharmacy adjoining the clinic provides for another layer of care for the patient. Guerrero said this is a trend in the health-care industry. Clinics such as this provide a faster, reliable and cost-effective alternative to an emergency room visit and is often significantly less expensive.

Nahrstedt said nurse practitioners have an advanced degree in nursing. In Nebraska, nurse practitioners can practice independently with a doctor after they have 2,000 hours of practice. Originally from Bassett, she has been a nurse practitioner for 12 years.

"What we would like to do is to serve patients who do not have a primary care provider," Nahrstedt said. "Sometimes it is very difficult to get into practices, so they can come here. We can see them over and over again and establish a relationship and treat them for chronic diseases and acute care illness, too. "

She said they could see people of all ages and treat them for a lot of things.

"If they need to go to a higher level of care, such as a bone fracture, we can send them to a higher level of care. Otherwise we can manage quite a few things here," Nahrstedt said.

Family Medicine and Urgent Care also offers management of work-related illnesses and injuries. They provide drug screening, physicals and immunizations. Nahrstedt said the service is for businesses who value healthy and productive employees.

She said their goal is to serve patients within an hour. Nahrstedt said due to the nature of urgent care, it is difficult to provide an estimate because the volume of patients and severity of injuries or illnesses will make wait times longer.

Nahrstedt said Family Medicine and Urgent Care has many options for payment and urges prospective patients to call for specifics. What Family Medicine and Urgent Care provides is easy access, next to a pharmacy, and "you will get great care here," she said.

The clinic is a walk-in friendly facility; no appointments are necessary. However, they do encourage anyone who is not in need of urgent care to make an appointment.

Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday. The clinic is closed on Sunday.

For more information, call (308) 675-3899 or check online at www.grandislandmedicine.com.