Department Discovery - March: CCMG Walk-In Clinics in Gillette and Wright

This month's Department Discovery shines the light on Campbell County Medical Group's Walk-in Clinics located in Gillette and Wright, Wyoming.

Walk-In Clinics provide patients with fast, convenient care for serious but not life threatening illnesses and injuries 365 days a year with no appointment needed. The experienced physicians and physician assistants in Gillette and Wright can treat your whole family with quality care and personal service. And, both clinics provide complete occupational healthcare for industry in the region.

The Walk-In Clinics are managed by Bill Rice, and supervised by Brenda Esponda and Carrie Felton in Gillette, and Robin Yeradi in Wright. Doctors in Gillette are Sherri L. Blanchard, MD‎ and Timothy D. Bohlender, MD, and Laine Russell, DO, sees patients in Wright. \

While the Gillette Walk-In Clinic provides more urgent care to patients in Campbell County, the Wright Walk-In Clinic also provides primary care for the whole family and same-day appointments. The clinic in Gillette has 38 employees, while the Wright clinic staffs eight. The clinic in Wright cares for an average of 100 patients per week, while the clinic in Gillette cares for roughly 110 patients per day—in February, the Gillette Walk-In Clinic broke a record, seeing 3,126 patients that month; an average of 112 patients per day. However, in terms of population, the Wright Walk-In Clinic sees 10 percent of the population per week, while the Gillette Walk-In Clinic sees approximately 4 percent of the population per week.

So, how does the Gillette Walk-In Clinic keep up with the daily patient load? According to Bill, the new online scheduling tool, Skip the Wait, has proved to be quite successful for the Gillette clinic.

"Even with a record number of patients in February, we only saw a handful of patients waiting in our lobby because the others were able to wait at home, at their office or even run errands while they wait to be contacted," he said. Skip the Wait isn't an appointment service; it's simply holding a patient's place in line at the clinic. The system will send the patient a text message when it's time to return to the clinic, where they will then check in and wait to be seen. Without this system, a patient would sit in the waiting area for much longer periods of time. "Patients have been much happier using this service, as it respects their time," he said. You can learn more about Skip the Wait at www.cchwyo.org/skip.

As you can imagine, it takes a hard working team to see that many patients in a day or a week, and Bill says the clinics in Gillette and Wright have a great set of players. From the nurses, to the registration clerks and a providers (doctors and physician assistants), everyone works together and strives to provide excellence care to every patient that walks through the doors.

A big round of applause to the Gillette and Wright Walk-In Clinic staff! Thank you for all that you do for keeping our community healthy. We are proud to have you on our team.

You can learn more about the Gillette Walk-In Clinic at www.cchwyo.org/WIC and the Wright Walk-In Clinic at www.cchwyo.org/WWIC.

Remember: an urgent care center like the Gillette and Wright Walk-in Clinic & Occupational Health offices are not a replacement for primary care providers or the emergency department. Please visit the Find a Provider section for physician information. And, if you ever wonder when you should visit the Emergency Department or a Walk-In Clinic, please check out www.cchwyo.org/EDvsWIC.