ARKANSAS, USA — Urgent care centers in Northwest Arkansas and the River Valley are experiencing high patient volumes causing longer wait times.
The Flu is impacting much of the area while COVID is still a factor for Northwest Arkansas and the River Valley.
"Urgent care centers all over the area are experiencing this. I'm over at the Fayetteville market, and we're seeing the same things there," said the Director of Operations for Baptist Health Urgent Care, Arianna Heras.
Heras explained that patient volumes are high for airborne illnesses like COVID and the flu. She adds that wait times could be longer with multiple tests as well.
"When people are going in for multiple tests like that it can take longer than the average. When going in for a flu swab it's gonna take 15 minutes to run the test," said Heras. "A person comes in, they test positive for covid, and we have to shut that room down for 15 minutes while we completely sanitize the room to make sure that our air purifiers clean everything."
While Heras' clinics see peak times before and after school or work hours, she says they could be busy at any moment.
"It's a rotating door right now. You know, day to day, it's different. Sometimes they may be able to get right in, in the morning, other days, they're going to have a long line to get through check-in," Heras said.
"There's not really a great timeframe that somebody could go in. It just depends on how the flow is," she added.
The director of operations explained that they are trying to add staff to alleviate the issue, but there is still an employee shortage.
She says that they’re adding staff where they can, but are still dealing with an employee shortage. For patients, she suggested they check in online.
"We try our very best to get those back on time. But there are always things that may come up to extend our wait time a little bit," said Heras. "You get sick, you don't feel good. You want that care as quickly as possible. And we're trying to do the very best we can for our community."
In a statement, doctors at MANA Urgent Care said the following for their clinics:
MANA Urgent Care clinics are experiencing a longer than usual wait time of 1 to 2 hours due to the spread of flu, strep, some COVID, and other respiratory illnesses. Experts predict it will be a bad flu season because we have not had as much exposure to viruses during the pandemic. We ask that patients wear a mask if they have symptoms and check in at the front desk. Patients may choose to wait in their car or in the lobby and our staff will notify you when a room is available.
If you have not gotten your flu shot, we encourage you to get it as soon as possible to protect against 4 strains of influenza. Even if you have gotten the flu this year, you are not protected from getting one of the other strains of the flu. We also encourage you to wash your hands often, cover coughs, and disinfect common surface areas often.
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