Estes Park Health Urgent Care

Estes Park Health offers urgent care to visitors and residents

By Estes Park Health For the Trail-Gazette

When Estes Park Health decided a couple of years ago to build Estes Park’s first dedicated Urgent Care Clinic, we could hardly have known what the fates had in store for 2020. As plans finalized and work progressed toward a May opening for Urgent Care, the world fell into the grip of COVID-19, and it became very dif ficult to imagine how long the pandemic might last and how severe it might become. We all know the story (so far), and we cer tainly hope that the vaccine continues to do its good work, and we all hope that the variants of the virus don’t take us backwards. EPH, of course, continues to urge ever yone to stay smart and careful, and to continue to practice proper distancing and masking, and we’ll all get through this together.

The Urgent Care opened in late May 2020, and our first patients begin to roll in. The volume of patient traf fic, like the volume of traf fic to the town of Estes, was significantly less than expected. Through the summer, EPH chose to keep the Urgent Care open for long hours, seven days a week, to be there when needed by our community and visitors. And then, of course, our other Colorado crisis began to take shape: The Cameron Peak Fire began to threaten Estes from the nor thwest, and later the nor th, though the primar y ef fect of that fire ultimately became the prevailing smoke, sometimes terribly thick in town, plaguing young and old alike. Another ef fect of that fire was to help motivate EPH to set up an emergency Incident Command operation, and to work through and update evacuation plans for all depar tments.

And it was a good thing that EPH did so. When the East Troublesome Creek Fire exploded in the third week in October, leading to the mandatory evacuation of Estes on October 22, those evacuation plans were set in motion, and with high urgency. The fires were already nipping close to the edge of town, and only the friendly winds, heroic work by an army of firefighters, and the snow of the following weekend saved Estes Park from a truly disastrous situation.

When we were able to return to Estes Park, the combination of the challenges of reopening the hospital and the great financial losses of the year led to the decision to reduce open hours and days for the Urgent Care. While we had anticipated that there would be a summer/winter change of rhythm for that clinic, the uniqueness of 2020 forced us to reduce hours more quickly than originally considered.

Now, with 2021 looking like it may be a more “normal” year for summer activity in Estes, we have high hopes that the Urgent Care business will be busier this year and will begin to provide the breadth and quality of ser vice that we know it can provide for residents and visitors. The Urgent Care gives patients another option aside from the Emergency Depar tment for injuries and illnesses. Often, the patient’s problem doesn’t requirean emergent level of care but does need medical attention. On Memorial Day, we plan to open seven days a week; the current plan is to be open 11 AM to 7 PM for those seven days each week for the summer.

In addition to the Urgent Care Clinic, the building (just east of the Safeway gas station on the nor th side of Big Thompson Avenue, aka Highway 34) houses our Rehabilitative Ser vices (physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy), which is now open five days a week. And, our Specialty Clinic visiting physicians (dermatology, urology, ear/nose/throat, and much more) also provide their services at the Urgent Care Center. The ser vices, and dates and times for the various specialists, can be found on the eph.org website, as well as the open times for the Urgent Care.

The Urgent Care Clinic will be part of the fabric of healthcare here for years.

Estes Park Health’s Urgent Care Center is located at 420 Steamer Dr.

Estes Park Health / Courtesy photo