When Tracy Vogt entered Sanford Health’s new walk-in clinic at the Sanford Sports Complex in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on a Monday morning, the workers seemed a little over-the-top excited to see her. Like they were about to throw her a party or something.
Vogt, a mom of three with her own jewelry design business who lives in nearby Crooks, had arrived in less than half the time it used to take her to travel to a Sanford Health acute care clinic. She was about as happy as she could be with a pain that hadn’t cooperatively vanished overnight.
Vogt had noticed the walk-in clinic under construction as she drove her daughter to volleyball games at the Sanford Pentagon. So when she thought gallstones were causing her pain, she was greeted excitedly at the clinic with, “We didn’t know if we’d have anybody today,” Vogt recalls.
Confused, she asked them, “So you don’t have very many people right away?”
They replied, “No, you’re the first patient.”
“Of the day?” she asked.
“No, ever.”
Find a location: Sanford Health acute care clinics near you
Vogt estimates that her family uses acute care four times a year. She was impressed with the brand-new facility — and the amount of attention she received as the inaugural patient.
In fact, when she discovered that her kids could also get their flu shots there, Vogt came back with them after school. “It worked out great,” she said.
So since the clinic opened at the end of September, “I’ve been there twice,” she said.
Convenience for north side
Vogt is excited to trim her typical trip to acute care from 22 minutes to 10 minutes.
“So many people will be so happy who live on the north end or outside of Sioux Falls because it’s just a convenience,” she told the clinic workers.
Now Sanford Health is well-positioned to serve patients without appointments all over Sioux Falls and Brandon as quickly as possible — just short trips to six walk-in clinics.
- Sanford Brandon Acute Care & Orthopedic Fast Track Clinic serves the Brandon area
- Sanford Sports Complex clinic serves the north end of Sioux Falls
- 26th Street and Sycamore Avenue serves the east side
- 10th Street and Phillips Avenue serves residents and the business community downtown
- 32nd Street and Ellis Road serves the west side
- 69th Street and Minnesota Avenue serves the south side
Get Care Here: Health care at your convenience
So wherever people live, work, go to school or go to day care, they have convenient options for a quick trip to a walk-in clinic for anything that comes up.
Families like the Vogts find that school, activities and work already keep them plenty busy. So this convenience is priceless, especially when things such as ear infections arise at the least convenient times. In the evening or on weekends, when they can’t see their primary care doctors, they can visit a walk-in clinic.
“When you go into an acute care facility, you want some type of relief or answers of something,” Vogt said. “I feel that they do a very good job of communicating with you and getting you what you need to go on throughout your day.”
Learn more
- Emergency vs. urgent care: The ER isn’t for everything
- Home kit, app bring patients convenient medical care
- New health care clinics located near home and work
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Posted In Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Orthopedics, Sioux Falls, Sports Medicine
