Emily, three years old, was carried into Austin Regional Clinic‘s After Hours Clinic on a Friday evening by her mother. Hours earlier, when Emily’s grandfather had attempted to lift Emily up using only her arms, she began to scream out in pain.
Emily was worked in to see me. I am an ARC physician and was working in After Hours that evening. Seeing that Emily was emotionally breaking down, I asked her how old she was to distract her and taught her how to breathe deeply, thinking about each and every breath. Emily began to calm down.
I explained to Emily’s mother that Emily suffered from “radial head subluxation,” or nursemaid’s elbow. Her radial head had gotten separated from the socket, which caused a great deal of pain for Emily. It can be caused when a caregiver lifts a child by the forearm and is fixable with some simple maneuvers. I showed Emily’s mother how to relieve the child’s pain and rotated the wrist medially until the radial head went back into the socket. Within minutes, Emily was pain free.
That night, Emily’s mother decided to have Emily help write a thank-you note to ARC for their help in what could have been a stressful night at the Emergency Room. That note from Emily is one of the most treasured notes I’ve received from a patient.
This is a common situation that occurs at ARC’s After Hours Clinic. Patients come into our clinic wanting fast, efficient, and trustworthy solutions to their medical needs. They can be quickly worked in, seen by a competent team of medical professionals, and feel valued both as people and patients. That’s the kind of care ARC provides, both in the daytime outpatient setting as well as our After Hours locations across the city. “After Hours services is one of the reasons that makes our clinic unique,” said Norman Chenven, CEO and Founder. “The same excellent staff that we have working in our outpatient offices are the doctors who treat patients in the evening, which provides a constant level of quality for patients.”
Accountable medical groups want to make sure that patients have easy access to care, day or night. I am proud to be an ARC doctor.