Dr. Casale:Where to get the right care

Accidents happen … so do sudden illnesses.

Even some chronic health conditions may unexpectedly require immediate attention.

And none of these scenarios are taking time off during the current novel coronavirus pandemic.

So, when care is necessary and has to be delivered swiftly, it’s important not to delay but to seek it right away. Often same day availability at your doctor’s office is an option, but hospital emergency departments and urgent-care clinics are other safe and ready alternatives to care for those who need immediate care.

It’s helpful to know when to go to the emergency department and when the care you need would be more appropriate for the urgent-care clinic setting or your doctor’s office.

As a general rule, when health issues are potentially life threatening, head to the emergency department. When care is immediately necessary but not life threatening, it can most likely be properly addressed at the office or an urgent-care clinic. Most injuries and those conditions that require X-rays or some type of procedure like suturing are not as easily dealt with at your family doctor’s office as they can be at an urgent-care center.

Seek care at an urgent -care center or your doctor’s office for:

• Fever and flu-like symptoms

• Vomiting and diarrhea

• Skin rashes and infections

• Eye irritation

An urgent-care center may be better for:

• Minor bleeding and cuts that may require stiches

• Falls with injury

• Sprains and strains

• Minor broken bones

Geisinger’s walk-in, urgent-care clinics, are called Convenient Care clinics, and they are the right care destination for those health conditions and unforeseen injuries that are likely not life threatening.

No appointments are necessary at and copays are often significantly lower than they are in the emergency department.

But the emergency department is the place to go when conditions and injuries are serious enough to be potentially life threatening. It’s always the better choice to calling for an ambulance rather than risking driving yourself if you need to head to the ED. Think about calling for their help even if someone else can drive, since the first responders who arrive with the ambulance can start treatment and get in contact with the hospital team as soon as they’re on scene.

Call for help and seek care at a hospital emergency department for:

• Fractures with exposed bone

• Chest pain

• Difficulty breathing

• Serious head, neck and back injuries

• Poisoning

• Sudden, severe pain

• Uncontrolled bleeding

• Seizures and fainting

• Signs of heart attack or stroke

• Extensive or severe burns

Emergency departments across the Geisinger system have taken safety precautions learned during the pandemic response and have made those measures standard from now on. Those measures will be regularly reevaluated but will also be the foundation of how we approach immediate health care needs for the foreseeable future.

And Convenient Care locations stand prepared to care for patients, using those same safety principles.

So, whether you need an emergency department to care for your most serious conditions and injuries, or you’re in need of immediate care for urgent, but less severe conditions, remember not to delay that care for fear of COVID-19.

Safe emergency and urgent care are available for you right now at your doctor’s office, at urgent-care centers, from emergency responders and in our area’s hospital emergency departments. Use them.