TAHLEQUAH — It’s a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and your children are outside riding their bicycles. Suddenly, one of them crashes, peeling open a knee.

You rush to evaluate the situation, and decide it’s far too serious for a standard bandage, but probably not serious enough for the emergency room. Since it’s Saturday, your primary care physician is unavailable, which leaves you scanning the YellowPages for an alternative.

Fortunately, residents in this area have the option of taking a bloodied and bruised child to an urgent care facility.

The Urgent Care Association of America, a trade organization that came into existence in 2004, last year counted a total of 8,000 urgent care facilities across the country. For patients with illness or injuries that are not life-threatening, yet can’t wait for an appointment with a primary care physician, these hybrids can be the ideal solution.

Tahlequah’s Urgent Care clinic, owned and operated by Kelly and Dr. Tracey Childers, was established in 2004. The couple opened a second clinic in Wagoner in 2008.

“Our whole inspiration for starting this unique medical practice was to offer patients an opportunity to have not only a walk-in clinic with convenient hours for the working public, but also work in conjunction with patients’ primary care providers to ensure continuity of care,” said Dr. Childers.

Most urgent care facilities, including the two in this area, work with a patient’s primary care physician as a stop-gap measure for many things.

The most common urgent care medical cases include care of the common cold, minor illness, sprains, minor burns, sports injuries, sports and school physicals, drug screening, splinting minor fractures, providing X-rays and employer workers’ compensation care.

Kelly Childers said Tahlequah Urgent Care services approximately 80 percent of area employer workers’ compensation patients, and also provides relief to area physicians who may be out of town.

“We receive a number of doctor referrals as a care facility when they may be unavailable to their patients,” said Kelly. “Hopefully, we have become the go-to source for interim care. We are not a primary care facility, but work closely with doctors and their patients.”

Longtime Tahlequah resident Robbie Frank believes urgent care facilities provide a valuable service.

“I have used urgent care a couple of times and will use [it] again,” said Frank. “Most minor issues a physician’s assistant can handle, but if not, they can send you on to a real doctor. Urgent care reduces traffic at the emergency room in case there is a ‘real’ emergency, and urgent care costs less. The most I was ever charged was $200. I am sure an emergency room visit would exceed $200.”

Kelly Childers said providing relief for Tahlequah City Hospital was a catalyst for the creation of Urgent Care.

“We worked with Brian Woodliff, CEO at Tahlequah City Hospital, who was very enthusiastic about the care we were looking to provide, thinking it would ease the pressure of what was then a very crowded emergency room,” said Childers. “This was before TCH built its new ER, and it did help remedy a lot of the traffic.”

Today, TCH relies on several outside care facilities, including Urgent Care, Tahlequah Medical Group, and a clinic in Fort Gibson.

“Dr. Paul Hobbs, physician of the Bypass Clinic Tahlequah Medical Group, mentioned that he believes [they have] a great partnership with the emergency room of Tahlequah City Hospital,” said Scott Rosenthal, director of physician practice management at TCH. “We both strive to take care of our patients in Tahlequah and the surrounding area. The PA in our office, Janet Plaxico, does her best to see emergent walk-in patients daily.”

Many urgent care facilities rely on a staff of doctors, physician assistants and registered nurses to provide care.

Tahlequah’s urgent care is staffed by Dr. Childers and two PAs – Sean Scearce and Philip Watson.

Scearce has been a PA for 13 years, and has spent the past five with Urgent Care. Scearce said he had always wanted to work in the medical field.

“Before I met a PA, I didn’t even know the occupation existed,” said Scearce. “He explained it to me, and things just clicked.”

Scearce said that in becoming a PA, he got to practice medicine without having to spend 10 years training to be a doctor.

“Physician’s assistants are mid-level health care providers,” he said. “It means going to school to learn to practice medicine under the same model as doctors, but in a shorter time span. I spent two years in intense – 40-hour semesters – training at the University of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City. They teach practical medicine and how to come out and practice immediately. What made being a PA attractive is I could start practicing in 30 months, compared to seven years.”

Physician assistants are dependent on physicians to practice, however.

“It always requires a partnership with a doctor with whom you contract,” said Scearce. “We have some limitations in treatment and prescribing medication, but for the most part, we work right alongside a doctor as a partner.”

Tahlequah Urgent Care stresses a family atmosphere, which made the practice particularly attractive to Rhonda Serrano, director of operations.

“What drew me here is the family-based, yet fast-paced medical atmosphere,” said Serrano. “I wanted the structure, but also the Christian principles that are the push of the company. I think both the staff and our patients appreciate that.”

Serrano describes herself as the “go-to” staffer, managing everything from human resources, to accounts payable to billing.

As each patient’s medical problems differ, the cost of the care depends on the nature and extent of the injury or illness. Urgent Care participates with many insurance companies, and files all insurance claims, with the exception of automobile insurance.

Despite Congress’ passing health care reform, many people remain without health insurance, Serrano said, and Urgent Care tries to provide relief.

“All co-pays, deductibles and payment for non-covered services are due at time of service,” said Serrano. “However, if a person is uninsured and pays at the time of service for the full amount, we offer a 20 percent discount across the board, which helps everyone who pays right up front. This seems to work really well in this community, and several of our patients have exercised that option.”

Services have expanded to offer clinic hours seven days a week at both Tahlequah and Wagoner facilities. Both clinics are open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Sundays, 1-5 p.m.