Just in time for the new year, the Urgent Care Center of Richmond Hill has expanded both its space and services.
The locally owned and operated Urgent Care Center first opened in 2009 as a place where people in Richmond Hill could go to receive immediate medical care outside of their physicians’ regular operating hours.
Since then, it’s become so successful that the owners decided to expand their office and incorporate primary care medical services into their repertoire.
“We’ve been very fortunate that the community here has embraced us and allowed us to become so successful,” said physician assistant and co-owner Lori Gaylor. “Expanding is our way of giving back, providing our patients with the best care and services we can.”
Gaylor co-owns the business with fellow physician assistant Catherine Grant and Dr. Robert Mazur. All three of them live in Richmond Hill and help run the clinic.
When they first opened the office, they saw an average of 10-12 patients a day. Now they see more than 60.
“We started with about 2,800 square feet and then we recently added about 1,200 more, which included four additional exam rooms, a conference room and an additional nurses’ area,” said Grant. “We still predominately do urgent care, but we noticed since we’ve been open the increased demand for primary care services and routine maintenance care for people who didn’t already have a primary care doctor.”
Grant and Gaylor said they don’t intend to compete with local primary care providers, but rather seek to increase access for patients who don’t have a doctor they see regularly.
“We’re here to augment what the primary care physicians here do, because we have extended hours, and we’re open seven days a week. We’re designed for people to be able to walk in any time they need,” said Gaylor. “We felt like that was needed in this community, just a little bit beyond what was already available.”
The Urgent Care Center is open every day of the year, except for three: Christmas; Easter; and Thanksgiving.
The clinic now offers urgent medical care services and the newly added primary care services. It also works with local businesses to provide drug tests, workers’ compensation and occupational medical services.
The center’s medical doctor, Dr. Mazur, is a board-certified emergency medicine physician. A former U.S. Army officer and graduate of West Point, he was featured in the award-winning 2006 HBO documentary “Baghdad ER.”
“I love working here and helping out people in Richmond Hill,” said Mazur. “It’s nice to hear people say, ‘You have a great clinic, and your staff is so wonderful.’”
Gaylor agrees. “We did this for a reason, and it wasn’t to become a huge conglomerate with locations in 50 states. We did this because we saw a need in our community, and we wanted to help our friends and neighbors.”
For more information on the Urgent Care Center and its medical providers, visit www.theUCConline.com or call 756-CARE.