Highland residents will have to find a new facility for walk-in medical services

St. Joseph’s Hospital’s walk-in clinic in Highland will close this week, due to the increased need for emergency room services.

St. Joseph’s is part of the HSHS network, which announced the closure of its PrimeCare walk-in clinic Friday, Nov. 18. The release stated that growing volume in the hospital’s emergency room and the need for more patient beds was the reason behind the decision.

“We, along with many hospitals across the country, are seeing a higher number of critically ill patients in our emergency department than ever before,” said chief nursing officer Teresa Cornelius. “Currently our PrimeCare clinic shares space with the emergency department, and we often need that space for our emergent patients. To ensure our emergency department can see patients efficiently, we have decided to close the walk-in clinic.”

Cornelius said the emergency room has seen a 14% increase in patients the last year. The illnesses presented aren’t only COVID-related, though the region is still at a high transmission level, she said. Cold and flu season brings a rise in respiratory viruses — accompanied by strokes, heart attacks and other emergency incidents, she said.

“Utilizing the space for the higher acuity patients allows us to provide the necessary level of care an emergency setting affords while patients may be waiting to be transferred, and allow us to continue to intake others who walk through our doors needing care,” Cornelius said.

Nationally, patient volume in urgent care centers is up 60% from 2019, driven by both COVID and more traditional causes, according to the Urgent Care Association. Urgent care is more likely to be used by people ages 20-40 than older people, and the use is growing: 26% of urgent care centers are seeing more than 60 patients a day, vs. 11% reaching that volume in 2019. Similar statistics were not immediately available for national ER usage, though the Urgent Care Association study shows ER visits decrease an average 17.2% when an urgent care center opens nearby.

The PrimeCare clinic’s last day of service will be Thursday, Nov. 17, though HSHS Medical Group is “evaluating a solution” to continue to have a walk-in option in Highland.

“We want to remind the community that in any emergency, please do not hesitate to come to our emergency room or dial 911,” Cornelius said. “We are here and ready to serve you with high-quality, compassionate care.”

Additional available walk-in facilities

For those who are not in an emergency but need walk-in health care, there are HSHS clinics at the following locations:

• Clinton County Rural Health Breese Walk-in Clinic, 9401 Holy Cross Lane, Breese. Hours are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday and 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
• HSHS Holy Family Health Center Walk-in Clinic, 201 Health Care Drive, Greenville. Hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Friday and 8 a.m. to noon Saturday.
• St. Elizabeth’s Hospital Convenient Care, 1512 N. Green Mount Road, O’Fallon. Hours are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. all days.

Clinton County and Greenville are both billed as primary care office visits; O’Fallon is billed as an outpatient hospital visit. HSHS also offers online urgent care visits at anytimecare.com for $49.

There are also several clinics in nearby communities, including Anderson Hospital’s ExpressCare in Maryville; BJC Medical Group Convenient Care on Troy Road in Edwardsville; Gateway Urgent Care in Glen Carbon and WellNow Urgent Care in Collinsville. Urgent care clinics and walk-in clinics are very similar, though urgent care is more likely to focus on immediate medical issues that are not life-threatening while walk-in clinics can manage less immediate problems.

Cornelius reminded the public COVID boosters and influenza vaccinations are “an important way community members can protect themselves and others from serious illness and possible hospitalization.”