ER or Urgent Care?

Do you need to go to the ER? Or can you choose urgent care instead?

The simple answer is to ask yourself, is your ailment life-threatening? Are you at risk for losing a limb or your eyesight?  

If so, go to the Emergency Room. If not, save yourself time and money by going to a Holy Cross Urgent Care Center.

If you’re having chest pains or severe shortness of breath, please go to the ER immediately. If you’re experiencing blurry vision, numbness, slurred speech or other signs of a stroke, the best place to be treated is the ER. Also, if you have a compound fracture (there is a bone protruding through your skin), please go directly to the ER. Visit our Emergency Room services here.

But if you have a minor injury or illness (including fever, flu, upper respiratory infections, etc.), you may seek treatment at a Holy Cross Urgent Care Center. 

Here are some ailments that we recommend you get treated at the ER:

• Altered mental status
• Chest pain
• Choking
• Electrical shock
• Extreme shortness of breath
• Loss of consciousness
• Major trauma
• Poisoning
• Pregnancy-related problems
• Seizure

The benefits of a walk-in urgent care center begin with the fact that you are less likely to have an extended wait. It also saves you and the health care system money.

Going to the emergency room can cost a lot of time and money. Unfortunately, the majority of people who go to the ER don’t have true medical emergencies, and may pay up to six times more than necessary. If you wait days or weeks for an appointment with your primary care physician, you run the risk of your condition getting worse and requiring more complex – and more expensive – treatment. That’s why we’ve created the Holy Cross Urgent Care Centers.