Urgent Care

Urgent care provides fast access to medical help when you’re sick or injured but don’t need a hospital. If you have an urgent health problem, visit Frances Ilozue, MD, MPH, and the team at Rapha Family Medicine, PC. At the practice’s offices in Amherst and Buffalo, New York, Dr. Ilozue and the team provide sick visits so you can get any help you need promptly. To benefit from expert, timely urgent care, call Rapha Family Medicine, PC, or book an appointment online today.

What is urgent care?

Urgent care services provide medical attention to patients when their health problems are too pressing to wait for a routine appointment.

Rapha Family Medicine, PC provides urgent care as well as routine primary care to its patients. This offers the advantages of visiting with a team you know in familiar surroundings and avoiding an inconvenient trip to the hospital emergency room.

What medical problems does an urgent care clinic treat?

Urgent care problems could be anything requiring treatment the same or the next day because it’s so painful or making you feel especially sick. Common urgent care conditions include:

• Cuts and puncture wounds
• Eye infections or objects stuck in the eye
• Minor finger and toe fractures
• Acute back or neck pain
• Minor burns and scalds
• Ligament sprains
• Muscle or tendon strains
• Ear infections
• Sinusitis (sinus inflammation and infection)
• Severe sore throat/strep throat or cough
• COVID-19
• Painful, itchy rashes or hives
• Flu and other upper respiratory tract infections
• Urinary tract infections (UTIs)

The Rapha Family Medicine, PC team is always happy to advise you whether you need urgent care or a trip to the hospital.

When would I need emergency rather than urgent care?

Emergency hospital care is for life-threatening musculoskeletal damage and illnesses like heart attack, stroke, or severe auto accident injuries. Sometimes it’s difficult to know if you need urgent care or emergency care, but as a general rule, you should go to the hospital or call 911 for the following:

• Unbearable pain
• Heart attack or stroke symptoms
• Heavy bleeding that won’t stop
• Knife and gunshot wounds
• Seizures
• Compound fractures (where the bone is visible through the skin)
• Loss of consciousness (even if you’re now awake)
• Moderate to severe burns and scalds
• Difficulties breathing
• Suicidal intentions

The hospital ER is also the best place for babies under three months old with a temperature of 100.4 degrees or above.

If you’re unsure what kind of care you need or you feel very sick, you can use Rapha Family Medicine, PC’s virtual urgent care service. You just need a mobile device or PC to connect securely with an urgent care provider for a video chat.

To find out more about the urgent care services Rapha Family Medicine, PC offers, call the office or book an appointment online today.