CLINTON — Warner Hospital and Health Services Family Medicine will trial a walk-in health clinic starting Jan. 2, 2018. 

The walk-in clinic will be housed within the Family Medicine office and will accept patients 5 years of age and older who present with any of a variety of common illnesses.  The illnesses that will be treated at the walk-in clinic include:

• common cold

• rashes or skin irritations

• painful or burning urination

• allergy symptoms

• pink eye

• earaches

• cough

• sore throat

• flu symptoms

• sports physicals

If an illness is something else, patients will be directed to the emergency department or their primary care physician, said Susanna Legner, RN, BSN, Chief Nursing Officer at Warner Hospital.

Medical personnel serving walk-in clinic patients will be the same clinicians in the Family Medicine office but will rotate into the walk-in clinic, said Legner.

The walk-in clinic hours will be the same as the hospital’s family medicine office, Monday-Wednesday, 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Thursday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

After a six-month trial, a review of the clinic’s patient volume and community reception will determine if longer hours would be appropriate. 

“It’s an experiment,” said Warner Hospital CEO Paul Skowron. “We have so many people in the community who use the emergency room as their doctor’s office. We’re establishing this walk-in clinic so the community has more access to affordable care.”

The cost for a visit to the walk-in clinic will be comparable to that of a doctor’s office visit.