Care Center opens doors
Naomi Parikh
Issue date: 1/29/10 Section: News
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The Center, targeted towards working professionals and City visitors, is the first walk-in clinic of its kind in Center City, and will hold its Grand Opening Feb. 1.
The idea for the Center came from Howard Miller, senior associate dean of clinical affairs at Drexel's medical school. Miller told the Philadelphia Inquirer he hoped to not only provide fast, quality care for working professionals, but also increase awareness of Drexel throughout the City.
"We've not been as visible in the city as we'd like," Miller said in the article.
Thomas McAndrew, a professor at Drexel's College of Medicine, was named the medical director of the Center. McAndrew, the Center's on-site physician, said the clinic has seen "steadily increasing" numbers of patients and interest.
"As of Jan. 28, we have treated acute bronchitis and acute sinusitis the most, but have also seen patients for physical exams, flu shots, otitis media, and other common medical problems," McAndrew said. "We have also provided patients with physicians for follow-up and routine primary care."
McAndrew said the clinic provides only basic medical care and cannot treat medical emergencies.
According to McAndrew, the clinic also has a "generic prescription dispersing machine," so patients have the option of going to a pharmacy to fill their prescriptions or filling them onsite before leaving.
Debra Shearer, a Drexel nursing professor and chief nursing officer at the clinic, said the past few weeks allowed the staff to gauge the clinic's progress as well as the patients' experience.
"It was the perfect opportunity for me … to work with the College of Medicine as well as find a clinical site for both faculty and nurse practitioner students," Shearer said.
Shearer said the clinic markets itself to working professionals in the City who either do not have time to see their primary care provider, or work too far from home to do so during the day.
Gloria Donnelly, dean of the College of Nursing and Health Professions, said location was the most important factor for the Center. According to Donnelly, she and Miller visited different sites in Center City to find a densely populated area with the proper qualities for a clinic.
"… We went to the ground floor of Liberty Place, near the escalators leading to a food court and other areas, and stood there for about 15-20 minutes," Donnelly said. "During that time, we saw about 300 people pass by, and we could see the location was the right size and had the right elements."
Donnelly said she used the clinic once, during a workday, to save herself the wait time at her primary care provider's office.
According to Donnelly, the short-term goals of the clinic are to raise awareness about its service and location.
Shearer said that currently, the staff is working on getting the clinic running and handling the volume of patients. She also said the coming weeks will provide time for the staff to learn the needs of the community and clinic.
"We want to wait and see what the clinic's needs are, so we can then market to those areas," Shearer said.
Shearer said since the clinic is relatively small, students might not be needed directly at the site, but perhaps "on the periphery" with other departments offsite.
Currently, the clinic has a small waiting room and three exam rooms at Liberty Place.
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