Starting in mid-August, CPN Health Services patients in need of same-day care for minor medical issues have the option of visiting the tribe’s two new immediate care clinics. Located at both tribal clinics from 1-5 p.m. each weekday, the new immediate care programs aim to cut down on wait times for primary care physicians.
“These immediate care clinics are strictly for walk-ins and will only treat one medical ailment. If you wake up with a cold, or you break a bone in your hand and need an x-ray, this is the place for you,” explained Chris Skillings, CPN Health Services Director.
Like their counterparts in the private sector, the CPN immediate Care Clinics are a basic, curative form of service that deals with minor healthcare emergencies. Healthcare professionals at immediate care facilities treat minor medical conditions and ailments before they get worse. Due to the small amount of afflictions these clinics can treat, many market themselves as a means of cutting down wait times found in primary care medical offices and emergency rooms. As Skillings explained, CPN Health Services developed its own immediate care clinics for this same reason.
“This does not replace the primary care physician visit, this is strictly to get our patients in and out quickly for single issues,” he said. “If you need several tests or have extensive healthcare issues, your primary care doctor is the one to make an appointment with and see.”
Like many tribal health services, CPN clinics have a small number of openings each day that can be booked by calling at 8 a.m. However, due to the high volume of requests to see a doctor, these appointments are routinely booked within the first half hour of the clinic being open. Appointments cannot be made over the phone at the new immediate care facilities, but are scheduled by walk-ins only. Once the allotted visits for the day are full, no further patients will be seen.
CPN’s immediate care clinics will be open from 1-5 p.m., Monday-Friday and can only be accessed by visiting the check-in desk at either of the tribe’s two clinics. The CPN East Clinic is located at 2307 S. Gordon Cooper Drive, Shawnee, OK 74801, while the CPN West Clinic’s address is 781 Grand Casino Blvd., Shawnee, OK 74804. CPN Health Services are open to all Native Americans who are members of federally recognized tribal nations. Non-tribal spouses of CPN members, as well as tribal employees, are also eligible for care at CPN Health Services facilities.
For more information about CPN Health Services, please call (405) 273-5236 or visit www.potawatomi.org/services/health.