Ellington Walk-In Clinic Makes Patients’ Health Its Top Priority

ELLINGTON, CT - Daksh Rampal, MD is one of two highly trained physicians at Ellington’s Priority Urgent Care. Both Rampal and his partner, Anumeha Singh, MD, have a breadth of emergency room experience and pride themselves in their collective ability to provide convenient, personalized and compassionate care to their customers seven days a week.

From Priority Urgent Care’s contribution to the community to the center’s self-pay rates and core values, Dr. Rampal discusses how Priority Urgent Care distinguishes itself from the competition.

Patch: Priority Urgent Care maintains a vision of providing patients with the latest and best medical care. How does it accomplish this?

Rampal: Priority Urgent Care accomplishes this vision by employing a multi-pronged strategy composed of having healthcare providers who have multiple years of emergency room experience and who are committed to practicing evidence-based medicine and keeping themselves updated to the current literature; having state-of-the-art x-ray, point-of-care labs, medicines and DME (crutches, boots, etcetera) — all under one roof — and having the capability of catering to the urgent and walk-in needs of almost all age groups, be it children, adults or old people. It is our sincere intent to provide the latest and best urgent care, walk-in medical center to the people of Ellington, Somers, Vernon and neighboring towns, making each visit for their medical needs an easy and convenient one.

Patch: Tell us about Priority Urgent Care’s core values.

Rampal: To help accomplish our mission, we at Priority Urgent Care have a set of values, which we firmly believe in and endeavor to keep up every day:

Patients first. We remind ourselves each day that we are here to serve our patients and provide them the care we would like for ourselves and our loved ones. For us, nothing comes above our patient’s safety, health and comfort. The patient coming to our center must feel that this is what he was looking for in an “Urgent Care near me!”

Being better each day. To provide our community and patients the best that medicine can offer, we integrate the latest evidence-based practices in our care striving thereby to perform better every day.

Compassion. We realize that medicine and healing are not just science. Compassion, empathy and understanding our patients’ needs have a huge role in the healing process. We strive to make medical science humane and never forget that patients are individuals first.

Patch: How do urgent care centers fit into the health care regime?

Rampal: Urgent care, walk-in medical centers fill and serve the very important gap that primary care offices and ERs leave — when you are unwell and cannot wait for your primary care to give you an appointment and yet, the illness is non-life-threatening and does not require the high-cost visits to the ER.

Unlike most primary care offices, you can just walk in or make a same-day appointment at our urgent care center and can have x-rays, medication and lab work all done at the same location and during the same visit. There is almost no wait, and we strive to make it very convenient. In addition, we take care of all age groups; so, be it a children’s or pediatric urgent care center that you are looking for or an adult urgent care center, Priority Urgent Care will fulfill the need.

Patch: What are the benefits of visiting an urgent care center versus hospital emergency departments?

Rampal: The visit to an urgent care center typically costs a fraction of what you end up paying for in an ER, for both insured and uninsured patients. Most of the insurance plans have much higher co-pay for an ER compared to an urgent care center, not to mention your valuable time. Typically, an urgent care visit is under one hour from start to finish, while you might find yourself still waiting in the waiting area of ERs at the end of that hour!

Given the fact that all our providers are experienced emergency providers, the level of care remains comparable and yet it is much faster, more personalized and more compassionate. Per debt.org, the average cost of an ER visit is $1,233 to $2168, while typical urgent care visit averages $150 (usually covered by insurance).

Patch: What options are available for patients without health insurance at the Priority Urgent Care?

Rampal: We at Priority Urgent Care believe that health comes first and should be affordable. Priority Urgent Care and our group of caring professionals are here to take care of all your urgent medical needs, even if you do not have any insurance. Hence, we offer affordable, self-pay rates to all our uninsured customers. This is charged on a tier system based on the complexity of your illness. In most of the cases, it is even less than the amount of co-pay required for an ER visit.

Patch: What resources, outside of medical care, does Priority Urgent Care offer to patients and the community?

Rampal: To make your health issues as convenient as possible, Priority Urgent Care has tried and integrated various aspects of patient care under one roof. These include x-ray, labs and lab draws, crutches, boots and slings, laceration and burn care, concussion care, asthma and allergy treatment, vaccination needs, physicals, EKG, workers compensation and occupational health, DOT, ordering and arranging for CAT scans and ultrasounds and referrals to specialists.

We also do a health snapshot, where we check your vital numbers, such as blood pressure, oxygen level, BMI and glucose level to give you a snapshot of your health at very low cost. BMI/blood pressure and glucose abnormalities have repeatedly being linked to various illnesses and long-term morbidity, and this is a good way to keep an eye on these numbers.

Patch: How does the center contribute to the community?

Rampal: Priority Urgent Care is actively immersing itself in the community. We see ourselves as the medical walk-in center providers for the community of Ellington, Somers and Vernon as well as neighboring towns. We believe in having personal relationship with our community and not just be a medical clinic. We are establishing a relationship with our patients, and we are proud to say that our patients are confident walking in or sending their loved ones, knowing that they will be well taken care of. We want to be actively involved in all the health needs of the community and are actively looking at local events to spread awareness about issues like sports injury and concussion and things which dearly matter to all of us and can keep our loved ones safe. We are creating new jobs in the community and hope to grow and make our city stronger together.

When a patient walks in, we don’t just treat the illness but also educate the patient about the causes, prevention and side effects of treatment, helping to create more health awareness.

Patch: How does Priority Urgent Care distinguish itself from other centers?

Rampal: Priority Urgent Care prides itself in building relationships and not just clientele. We pride ourselves in thinking of our patients as individuals first and cater to their specific needs given their particular lifestyle, support system and wishes. We pride ourselves in having the level of understanding and care where our patients feel comfortable enough to pick up their phones and call us about their doubts. Our aim is to have a happy and satisfied patient in every interaction, in turn making our community stronger and safer.

Patch: How can Patch readers learn more about Priority Urgent Care and its services?

Rampal: You can visit our website at www.priorityuc.com. Even better, pick up the phone and give us a call at (860) 454-0678, or simply walk in at 105 West Rd. in Ellington. We are here to help you become better and our community stronger and safer.

Photo credit: Priority Urgent Care