Is my question an emergency, urgent or can I wait for Dr. K?

Go directly to the nearest Emergency Room for serious or life-threatening problems including:

• Severe burns, deep cuts, animal bites, or bleeding that won’t stop

• Sudden or severe difficulty breathing, abdominal pain or vomiting blood

• Sudden weakness, numbness or loss of coordination or balance

• New, sudden, severe headaches, blurred vision or seizures

• Significant head injuries/concussions or broken bones

• Suicidal behavior or statements

• Fever, trouble breathing or lethargy in babies under 2 months

• Any other condition you believe is life-threatening

If the problem SEEMS life-threatening, don’t drive. Dial 911 for an ambulance instead.

If you are worried about an injury or illness, it is completely appropriate to go to an urgent care clinic. You do not need a referral or permission to get care for your children.

If you have a mental health or behavioral emergency:

• You can CALL, TEXT or CHAT with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

• You can CALL, EMAIL, CHAT with or TEXT “teen2teen” to YouthLine’s teen volunteers from 4pm-10pm Pacific Time every day of the year. (You can call anytime to reach young adult interns.) Oregon YouthLine is a peer-to-peer help, support, and crisis line for youth ages 10-24, dedicated to preventing substance abuse and suicide and promoting mental wellness. Find out more about resources, confidentiality, self-care and volunteering.

• Youth and Family Crisis Services provides mental health crisis assessments for anyone 0-17 years old and their families. Their walk-in center is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
  New address: 1234 Commercial Street SE, Salem, OR, 97302 Phone: 503-576-4673

Urgent care is for problems that don’t require the emergency room but can’t wait. This includes:

• cuts possibly needing closure

• suspected fractures or significant sprains

• ear pain that isn’t getting better after 2-3 days of managing pain

• fevers, sore throats, rashes, and coughs that are persistent or severe

• it’s best to get babies under 2 months old checked out promptly because they’re sneaky

The littler the kid, the more urgent it is to get checked out, and if you think the problem could be handled at urgent care but they’re all closed, the emergency room may be better than waiting.

If you are not sure what to do or need advice, try the AAP Symptom Checker and our Patient Resources page. If you need help deciding, call your insurance triage line. Your health plan’s nurse advice or triage line can usually be found on the back of your insurance card or in your insurance member portal or app. If you’re unable to locate it, call the customer service number on your card for assistance.

If you decide to use urgent care, I advise using the following clinics due to the level of training, experience with children and supervision of their providers. I do not recommend any other urgent or convenient care clinics in Salem for children.

SALEM CLINIC URGENT CARES (3 LOCATIONS)

*Appointments not required, but can be scheduled in MyChart (Salem Clinic or Salem Health)

Mon - Fri: 10am – 7pm, Sat & Sun: 10am - 5pm

South: 2531 Boone Road SE, Salem, OR 97306 (SE of Kuebler/Battle Creek Intersection); (503) 485-8600

Salem Clinic Main: 2020 Capitol St NE, Salem, Oregon 97301 (Near intersections of Capitol, Fairgrounds and Sunnyview); (503) 364-9888

SALEM HEALTH CONVENIENT CARE:

No babies under 3 months. Appointments are required (schedule). *Will not see Regence patients!

Everyday 10am-8pm 1002 Bellevue St SE, Salem, OR 97301 503-814-5554

Please have the ER or Urgent Care fax your visit notes to 888-977-1263 to keep your child’s medical chart up to date and help us provide appropriate follow-up care.

While urgent care is closed, if you feel the problem can’t wait until the next day, going to the emergency room instead is appropriate.

Should we wait for office hours or page Dr. K?

It’s best to see Dr. K for problems that have been going on for a while, aren’t changing significantly or worsening quickly, and are intermittent. These can wait a day or over the weekend, and your pediatrician already knows you, can spend time figuring things out, and will follow up with you.

Urgent care and emergency providers are not helpful for questions about changing regular medications, behavior and development, growth, nutrition, and preventive care. Except during an acute or severe flare, chronic problems like constipation, asthma, mental health, school, stomach aches and headaches are not addressed well by someone who doesn’t know you or have your records, and will tell you to follow up with your primary doctor.

Remember, you can use the patient portal any time to view records in your child’s chart, and send us non-urgent messages about appointments, prescriptions, referrals, insurance and billing. Spruce is great for same-day questions, but portal messages are inside your child’s chart. Use Spruce if you need us to see your message promptly when we are open (you need an appointment or answer today, or are running late) or if you need to reach Dr. K after hours, weekends or holidays.

If you need help deciding whether you should go between 7 am and 10 pm, messaging in Spruce is appropriate. We can often get kids in as quickly as urgent care can. If you are wondering overnight or don’t think you can wait for an answer, then the emergency room is the place you should be.

THANKS FOR HELPING US KEEP SPROUT RUNNING EFFICIENTLY SO WE CAN FOCUS ON TAKING THE BEST CARE OF YOUR KIDS!