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San Benito County residents now have an alternative when seeking urgent, non-life threatening medical care.
Hollister Urgent Care, located at 890 Sunset Drive, Suite B-2 in Hollister, opened its doors on Nov. 1 and is offering medical care seven days a week.
The private clinic is run by nurse practitioners Kimberly Hill, FNP, and Suzellen Jones, DNP, along with two medical assistants and an emergency room doctor serving as the clinic’s medical director.
Hill and Jones both have backgrounds in family and internal medicine, enabling them to treat anyone older than two weeks of age.
The county has “a lot of kids who try to get into their primary care clinics for same-day appointments and they can’t get in,” Hill said. “And they don’t want to go to the ER because it’s expensive.”
The clinic will offer not only urgent medical care, but services such as sports physicals, minor procedures, wound care, and tuberculin skin tests.
Hill says the clinic will allow patients to be evaluated and treated within the same day.
Equipped with in-house labs, patients can receive “point-of-care testing,” Hill said, meaning patients can expect test results at the end of their appointment.
Testing can be performed for respiratory conditions (COVID, influenza, streptococcus, respiratory syncytial virus), urine analysis, pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.
Hill said the clinic will also soon be able to dispense such “common, pre-packaged medications” including antibiotics and prescribed cough drops.
“Not only will you come in and be able to get your testing completed, but if it ends up being positive, we’re going to treat you with antibiotics and we’re going to send you home with your prescription,” she said. “So when you’re not feeling good, you won’t have to go to the pharmacy and wait in line.”
Hill stresses, however, that “if anyone is having chest pain, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing or severe abdominal pain, they should go directly to the emergency room.”
Though the clinic is not currently accepting insurance, it will provide customers with a receipt to submit to their insurance company for reimbursement. Appointments range from $50 to $325, based on the complexity of care, Hill said.
“Even without insurance, our pricing is very reasonable in comparison to the emergency services,” she said. “We’re just trying to save families not only time, but money.”
Hollister Urgent Care accepts walk-ins and online appointments. Its hours of operation are Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Mondays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Tuesdays through Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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