The interim executive director of the college Wellness Center says students can consider urgent care centers for treatment of ailments that need serious immediate attention and at times when the Wellness Center is not open.

Don Dominici, associate director of counseling and psychiatric services, is currently serving as interim executive director of the Wellness Center. He explained that, “If we can’t see you [the] same day, but you need to be seen [that] same day…that’s when you would go to urgent care.” Dominici said, “Our nurse practitioners do refer to urgent care instead of the Wellness Center when a student may need sutures or an X-ray due to an injury. We do not provide these services here.”

Urgent care facilities provide in-between treatment for ailments that cannot wait for a scheduled appointment at a physician’s office or the Wellness Center, but that may not require emergency room care.

The Wellness Center website lists both AllBetterCare and Holy Spirit Urgent Care as options for students who need care “after normal business hours.” The closest of the two is AllBetterCare Urgent Care Center, located at 1175 Walnut Bottom Road, which is approximately a six-minute drive from the Wellness Center. The care center’s main phone number can be found at allbettercare.com.

Claire MacAulay ’20, who has been to AllBetterCare, said she had a suspected virus and two ear infections treated by the clinic. She said she did not think the Wellness Center could have treated her ailments because “their hours are ridiculous.” She continued to explain that the advantage of going to an urgent care center is the ability to go when the Wellness Center is not open.

AllBetterCare’s website says the clinic is “equipped to handle lacerations, soft tissue injuries, bone injuries and tissue injuries,” but advises, “use sound judgement in seeking hospital based Emergency Department care for treatment of serious injuries.” According to Valentina Grbavac, AllBetterCare’s marketing director, the three most common ailments the clinic sees are “sore throats, sinus infections and various injuries.”

Online check-in and appointment sign up can be found on AllBetterCare’s website and patients can also use online payment. Grbavac explained that price usually depends on insurance and that there are “lots of different factors” that go into evaluating how much someone has to pay.

Grbavac said that walk-in wait time is “on average, 25 minutes.” She says the Carlisle office is the busiest of the AllBetterCare locations, but that the wait time is “a lot shorter than other centers.”

Geisinger Holy Spirit Carlisle Center is located at 1211 Forge Road, which is a ten-minute drive from Dickinson’s care facility. This center has many different facilities, but indicates on their website, geisinger.org, that they are equipped with an urgent-care center as well as well.

In addition, Dominici explained that the “NurseLine is also a good resource for medical questions after hours, and can be used to help determine whether a student should go to an urgent care center or the emergency room.” The number for Nurseline is (866-799-2752).

Alana Richards ’20, who has also visited AllBetterCare for recurring knee issues said, “I have never been dissatisfied with a Wellness Center appointment,” but says that she went to urgent care because her knee “just wasn’t getting better.” Richards said, “Yeah, I would go [to urgent care] again. It’s just fewer hoops to jump through than going to the hospital.”