New state-of-the-art clinic designed with kids in mind opening in east Idaho
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IDAHO FALLS — Anyone with kids knows that sickness can strike at inconvenient times. No parent wants to think about where to take their child if the doctor’s office is closed.
That’s the idea behind Just 4 Kids Urgent Care, a new pediatric clinic opening this month in Idaho Falls.
“For ourselves and most of the people we knew, most of our kids got sick after hours,” Just 4 Kids’ Chief Medical Officer Dr. Aaron Gardner tells EastIdahoNews.com. “We recognized there was a need, a space between the pediatrician’s office and the emergency department.”
Gardner says his entire staff was hand-picked for their pediatric experience. Everything in the clinic is designed to cater toward kids.
“There’s great evidence that shows when kids are distracted, their pain is less. So we’ve worked really hard to (make it as kid-friendly as possible),” Gardner says.
Gardner says they have gone to great lengths to decrease pain during doctor visits. Instead of giving a shot with a needle, they use compressed gas to inject a numbing medication through the skin or they can give a child a lollipop with numbing medication if there is a mouth-related condition.
The waiting room has a digitally projected soccer game on the floor. The game responds to the movement of the child’s feet.
There is also a remote-controlled Jeep that kids can ride in from the front of the clinic to the patient rooms.
The experience at Just 4 Kids Urgent Care is designed to start before you even get there, Dr. Gardner says. They have wired their system in such a way that parents can hop online and save their spot in line. When you walk in the door, you’ll see your name on the board that shows where you are in the cue. If it’s busy, you’ll know before you get there.
“We wanted to enter the market by making it clear that we are not trying to replace or compete with anyone’s primary care doctor. We’re not designed to be a primary care provider. We’re designed to complement them and cover when they’re not available,” Gardner states.
Gardner says any kind of treatment a child receives at Just 4 Kids is automatically sent to the child’s primary care provider so that medical care can move forward without any hiccups.
“When kids come in here, they’re going to be sick or hurt and no one is going to be real thrilled to be here. But the hope is that they leave, they’ll have had a good experience,” Gardner says.
Just 4 Kids Urgent Care is holding an open house for the public from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, March 17 and the office will officially open for business Monday, March 26.
They are located at 3320 South 25th East and will be open 2 p.m. to midnight Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday.