Telehealth helps navigate your winter health issues
Telehealth use has seen record growth in the past four years, from roughly 840,000 visits annually in 2019 to 52.7 million in 2020. The convenience of telehealth is the reason for this increase during and after the pandemic. Although these services are valuable all year, telehealth performs specialized beneficial services when navigating and accessing winter-related health care.
Winter brings challenging weather and road conditions. Winter weather-related falls and motor vehicle accidents increase, as do winter sports-related injuries from skiing, snowboarding, sledding, and skating. Musculoskeletal and back-related injuries from shoveling snow, as well as frostbite also occur.
As we gather and stay indoors more often, the spread of colds, influenza, diarrhea, upper respiratory infections, sore throat, pinkeye, sinus congestion and infection, flu, and bronchitis increase and spread. With the increase in infections and cold weather also comes the increased risks for heart attacks, COPD flares, asthma attacks, and the potential for carbon monoxide exposure from faulty heating units.
Getting a timely doctor appointment, safe transportation to and from an appointment, and overall health care access can all be challenging based on snow, ice, and weather conditions. For most of the concerns above, Saint Alphonsus Online Urgent Care provides real-time access to an experienced provider from the comfort of your home to evaluate and treat you. Or the provider can guide you if the best action plan may be an in-person visit to treat the concern, injury, or condition. This ease of accessibility can help you avoid transportation hazards and missed time at work or school and gain rapid, more immediate care from home using a laptop, smartphone, or another device. This can decrease the risks of the spread of illness for yourself and your family by not having to visit a center. Online Urgent Care can also save you the potential costs of an emergency room visit. For many minor injuries, evaluation and care can be provided through the visit.
To start an urgent care telehealth visit, the link below will take you to the landing page to register and begin:
