UVM Health Network Staff Remind Patients of Their Options During a Busy Time
Hospitals in the region remain at or near capacity due to patients needing care for respiratory illnesses like Covid-19, flu, and RSV, along with persistent crowding from the crisis-level lack of options for people in Vermont who need long-term care. UVM Health Network staff in Vermont and Northern New York are working hard to provide the high-quality care patients deserve, and reminding the community that there are multiple options for accessing medical care.
Patients have options when it comes to their care. When feeling unwell, the main options are primary care, urgent care, and the Emergency Department. Navigating these choices can feel challenging. Here’s a comprehensive guide to help determine the appropriate place to seek care for you or your loved one. To download a visual guide, click here.
Primary Care
If your condition is non-urgent or if you require a prescription refill, contacting your primary care provider for an appointment is advisable. Your primary care team, being familiar with your medical history, can provide personalized care, often with shorter wait times for scheduled appointments. Additionally, primary care visits typically entail lower insurance co-pays, potentially saving you money. Primary care visits are excellent for:
- Sprains
- Cold, flu and sore throat
- Abdominal pain
- Diarrhea
- Nausea, vomiting or stomach flu
- Urinary tract infection
- Pink Eye
Urgent Care
For conditions that are non-emergent yet cannot wait for a scheduled appointment, urgent care facilities offer extended hours and same-day appointments. Urgent care is also an option if you do not have a primary care provider. Conditions typically cared for at urgent care include:
- Cuts needing stitches
- Sprains or minor fractures
- Cold symptoms and minor respiratory issues
- Rashes and minor allergic reactions
- Gastrointestinal issues
- Pink Eye
To find an urgent care facility near you, visit UVMHealth.org/Walkin. (This is a list of UVM Health Network urgent care facilities. There may be other urgent care or walk-in locations in your area. Be sure to check which insurance they accept.)
Emergency Department
For serious or life-threatening conditions requiring immediate attention, the emergency department operates 24/7. Patients are triaged based on the severity of their condition, rather than arrival time. Wait times for less urgent cases can be lengthy, particularly during the evening hours. The emergency department should be utilized for conditions such as:
- Symptoms of a heart attack or stroke
- Chest pain or difficulty breathing
- Severe abdominal pain, headaches, or burns
- Seizures
- Neck, head or spinal injuries
- Compound fractures
- Instances of sexual assault
Caregivers for Loved Ones With Dementia
The many people in Vermont caring for a loved one with dementia may also find themselves seeking help during challenging moments, unsure where to turn. The UVM Health Network has stood up a new resource to provide support to families and family caregivers, called the Dementia Family Caregivers Center. It provides specialized services to families and family care givers, and provides strategies for providing care at home. The program provides a pathway for family caregivers to receive knowledge, support, and skills. A peer-to-peer mentoring program matches new caregivers with more experienced ones for assistance. For more information, visit Dementia Family Caregiver Center | The University of Vermont Health Network or call (802-847-4589).
This information serves as a guide to aid in determining where to seek medical care. In cases of serious or life-threatening conditions, community members should not hesitate to visit an emergency department. For other concerns, contacting a primary care provider is recommended if uncertain. Most offices have a provider available 24/7 to discuss symptoms and advise on appropriate care.
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Categories: Health Care
UVM Health seems to be doing a lot of advertising, community outreach, and public service pieces. Front-running damage control? A crisis in healthcare that has reached critical levels? Considering the number of medical staff called in from around the country to provide coverage and the number of complaints being told and retold tenfold, it appears the Vermont medical system is collapsing. I can attest to what I’ve witnessed and it is reprehensible. The corporate medicine model is about making profit, not at all about health.
If any readers live anywhere in the vicinity of southwestern VT, there is a beautiful, public-serving urgent care facility that can and does treat or stabilize conditions in the same manner as any E.R. in the state, and that is Manchester Medical located on Bonnet Street in Manchester VT.
Owned and run by a husband and wife team of licensed emergency medicine physicians, you will always see an actual physician, they accept all insurances including Medicare, they are caring and wonderful, & live locally, and they are equipped to treat heart and vascular issues and every manner of emergency. This dedicated team of former military docs and the medical professionals who work for them are open SEVEN days per week from morning until early evening. Manchester Medical rocks Vermont – a gem amidst a backdrop of a state which is tragically now bereft of much of the goodness it once possessed.
Yes, Virginia, there are still a few good people left in Vermont and the physicians who opened and who dedicate their lives to those who must visit their facility are two of the best.
Thank you Manchester Medical for your service to your country in the Armed Forces, and now for your service to the people and the lingering tourists who remain in this once vibrant and blessed state. May it either rest in peace or may God revive it – either way, Manchester Medical indeed continues to serve those in need as we all watch God’s will play out amidst the plagues man continues to create for this world God has given him.
Perhaps a great role model for our state…..
They are modelling the parallel economy – they are not yoked to the corporate failing model which is what many enterprises and institutions must start doing now. The smart money is better spent outside the current system, outside of the matrix, and outside of the controlled box. Build it, offer it, and the people will come in droves. The rewards and blessings will pour out tenfold.
Melissa that is what I’ve been thinking about our school system too.
Start with a small town and build from there…….get some funding to break the back of control……when people can see the results and what it costs, they will demand the same for their children, little by little.
Got anything for the commie flue?
Re: “Hospitals in the region remain at or near capacity due to patients needing care for respiratory illnesses like Covid-19, flu,…”
This is the same playbook used by the public education system, and any reasonable person can’t help but be suspicious and skeptical of the motive. Rather than demonstrate its efficiency and capacity to facilitate a healthier community, the UVM medical folks practice ‘demand-pull’ inflationary practices.
Consider the incentives. What would happen if the UVM medical establishment was actually successful in treating these ailments? What happens when a community becomes more resilient to respiratory illness?
Well, for one thing, the massive government funding in the infrastructure and personnel invested to treat these illnesses wouldn’t be as necessary. And we can’t have that now, can we?
It’s one thing to value those who truly want to help others. It’s another, entirely, to artificially create demand for that help by making policies that promote self-destructive behavior.
I needed an antibiotic and called teledoc. It was so much easier than waiting in line at urgent care and being judged by physicians assistants due to vaccine status.
I can’t breathe (because I have a mask on that is cutting 30% of my oxygen) and I can’t think straight (because prolonged oxygen deficits damage the brain PERMANENTLY)…
I have the sniffles (because the particulates from geoengineering are in my lungs, and my body wants to get rid of it), and congested lungs (particulates clog the aveolae in the lungs…kind like tar from cigarettes)…
I can’t digest my food (because its chock full of toxins and pesticides sprayed on land and flora alike), and need surgery (to cut out the part that isn’t cooperating with processing GMO’s)…
I need a new body.
Enter:
AI and transhumanism…
Oh yayeee!
Not.
EVER.
Going.
To rely on Vermont medical care ever again.
The last four years of lies showed me who they work for: You will know them by their works…