Beginning Sunday, January 8, KVH Urgent Care – Cle Elum will expand to 12 hours of daily operation, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Over the past several years the urgent care has been open for eight hours on weekdays and 15 hours on weekends, for a total of 70 hours per week. The new schedule will provide 84 hours of coverage per week.
The decision to change the hours comes after a thorough analysis of patient volumes. Data show that patients tend to arrive most frequently in the afternoon, with visits tapering off in the evening hours.
“By opening earlier in the day, we hope that urgent care will be more convenient for our community,” said Rhonda Holden, Chief Ancillary Officer for KVH. “We also believe that holding the same hours daily will provide more consistency and be easier to remember.”
Another factor in the decision to change the hours was the ability to adequately staff the urgent care center. It is easier to staff a healthcare facility that runs on consistent 12-hour shifts than a facility that has varying hours of operation with different shift lengths. Most providers at KVH Urgent Care – Cle Elum also work several 12-hour shifts per month at the KVH Hospital Emergency Department in Ellensburg.
Visits to urgent care are not scheduled. Patients can walk in during open hours to be seen for a variety of non-life threatening conditions, including fever, earache, cold or flu symptoms, minor allergic reactions or asthma attacks, rashes, strains, sprains, and simple wounds or fractures.
KVH Urgent Care – Cle Elum is located at 201 Alpha Way in Cle Elum, near Safeway and McDonald’s.
Many of these conditions can also generally be treated using KVH Virtual Care, which is available 24/7 for a flat fee of $40 at www.kvhealthcare.org or 855-962-1KVH.