Sick Visits / Well Care
Children are prone to many illnesses. Often they have disturbing symptoms or discomfort. Since most of us are parents ourselves, we can relate to and have empathy for sick children. Having regular office hours seven days a week, four nights till 9 p.m., as well as holidays and weekends, allows no child to be ill too long without having the opportunity to be seen and evaluated. If you have spoken to one of us late at night, we will provide you with appropriate therapeutic information to be carried out through the night. We will then have you come in as our first patient of the morning at 8:45 a.m.
Our offices are designed with two waiting areas - for well children and a smaller area for ill children. These areas are clearly marked. Please respect these areas, as it allows for more efficient and courteous patient care. The sick waiting area has no play area since it is generally true that sick children are not well enough to play.
In addition, we have a completely separate entrance for children with particularly contagious illnesses (i.e. chicken pox). If such an illness is suspected by our phone conversation, we will direct you to enter our side entrance and tell us when you have arrived.
When possible, please call early in the day if you wish your child to be seen for a sick visit. We can usually see a patient within a few hours of their phone call.
Information Needed
When you call for consultation with our triage nurses for an appointment, in almost all cases, we will want to know:
- Your child's name and age.
- Symptoms (example - vomiting, diarrhea, cough, etc.) and their duration.
- Current temperature.
- What change, if any, has occurred in your child's condition.
- What treatment has been tried.
- If you have spoken to any staff members or physicians about the problem in the past few days.