The heroes at Higginbotham
Amanda Anderson is singing the praises of John Bates, a nurse practitioner at Higginbotham Family Clinic/covenant Health Urgent Care, and the entire staff at the local family-practice/urgent care facility located at 1580 Tanner St. in Malvern. “I feel our community doesn’t know about this urgent care in Malvern, they literally saved my life,” stated Anderson.
Anderson was feeling under the weather last month. “My sister works at Higginbotham,” she said. When her sister heard Anderson was sick, she was urged to visit the clinic. “She said, ‘Get in here’,” stated Anderson.
Anderson said that she was in good hands the moment she walked into the facility. “As soon as I walked in the door I was bombarded with so much extreme care.” Anderson was quickly evaluated and treated by the staff, particularly Bates.
“He (Bates) prevented me from being in the hospital, and he helped me through COVID pneumonia,” stated Anderson. She said she is grateful for the expert care and compassion she received that day, and she wanted to share her experience with others around Hot Spring County so people will know that they have access to such quality urgent care in a smalltown setting.
Bates was unavailable for comment, as he is on a much-deserved vacation, but Dr. Shane Higginbotham, proprietor of the clinic and provider of services along with Bates and several other competent, caring medical professionals, had kind words about the nurse practitioner who pulls double-duty between the family practice and the urgent care on alternate days. “John is a really compassionate provider, I mean, he’s just down to earth, practical, and cares about people,” Higginbotham, said.
Higginbotham graduated from UAMS with “Highest Honors” in 1995 and has practiced medicine in Malvern for over 20 years. He opened his own practice in 2011 and moved to the current address from the clinic’s former home on Schneider Drive. He stated the urgent care side of the business has only been open since they moved into the new building on Tanner Street about 15 weeks ago.
Seeing that the Higginbotham Family Clinic and the Covenant Health Urgent Care are housed in the same building on Tanner Street, some local residents do not realize that urgent care is available in Malvern, despite the large red lettering on the west side of the building that attests to that fact.
Clinic Manager Kim Overton stated, “Ours is kind of unique. We’re all in the same building, but we have two separate clinics that operate under the same roof.” She stated that the staff want people in the community to know they have this option to seek treatment if they cannot get into their regular doctor’s office, before issues become dire and require emergency care.
Overton explained the difference in the two facilities. “So, one end is urgent care, and that’s for the community. So, people can walk in, no appointment, and get seen via acute care. We don’t take care of chronic care, meaning we don’t give, like, 90-day refills for blood pressure medicines or diabetic medicines, anything like that,” stated Overton. “People need to have a primary care that they see for those things. We try to do cough, cold, flu, stitches, ankles, you know, things to keep non-emergent issues out of the emergency room.”
Overton said the other part of the practice is a general and chronic care facility, stating, “The other side is family practice, and that’s from zero or birth to death, chronic issues, you know, diabetes, hypertension, thyroid—you name it, we take care of it all.”
Higginbotham said the urgent care aspect of the facility is immersed in addressing the medical needs of the community throughout an especially troubling cold and COVID season. “We kind of anticipated that it was going to be busy because Malvern had a need, we thought, and it has been very busy,” Higginbotham stated.
Overton said the urgent care facility has, in fact, been so busy administering COVID tests that they’re currently waiting on supplies to continue the testing with same-day results. In the meantime, they can send testing kits to an offsite lab and get results within three days. “We even had one patient drive in from Texarkana because he had been calling around, looking for a place to get Covid-tested.”
Overton points out that the clinic provides a comprehensive diagnosis that many sick people are missing out on lately, because concerns over COVID are distracting from other common illnesses, and problems like strep and flu are getting ignored. Overton said the clinic offers an array of testing.
“Because not every sickness out there is COVID,” she stated. “It’s not just a yes or no at COVID, we’re going to be, ‘ok, it’s negative for this, but we’re going to treat your symptoms with whatever medications best fits you as a person.’ “Overton added. “Our providers believe in treating the symptoms.”
“You’re trying to keep people from having to go to an emergency room as their only alternative,” Higginbotham noted. He stated that the urgent care facility should not be a substitute for emergency care, and people experiencing chest pains or other serious symptoms should, of course, opt for a visit to the emergency room.
Covenant Health Urgent Care’s website lists some common health concerns they treat at the facility, including:
• Allergies
• Cough, bronchitis, and upper respiratory infections
• Flu and flu-like symptoms
• Gout
• Indigestion, nausea, and vomiting
• Ear infections
• Rashes
Minor injuries the urgent care facility treats include:
• Abrasions, minor cuts, and lacerations
• Minor burns
• Splinters
• Sprains, strains, joint pain, and minor fractures
• Insect bites
• Depression/anxiety
• Physicals for school, camp, pre-employment
• DOT physicals
• Legal drug screens & breath alcohol testing
• EKG
• X-rays
• Urinalysis
• Blood tests
• TB skin tests
• Pregnancy tests
• Strep tests
• Covid-19 test
• Flu test
• Injectable antibiotics and “steroids”
• Updraft treatments
Higginbotham Family Clinic’s website lists the following services provided:
• Wellness & DOT Exams
• Allergy Testing
• X-ray (In House Radiology – Results same day)
• Lab (DOT & non-dot drug testing)
• TB Skin Tests
• Urgent Care (Same Day Appointments)
• Care Management
• Diabetic Dietary Teaching
• Weight Management
The family clinic’s hours of operation are Monday-tuesday, 7 a.m.-7 p.m.; Wednesday-thursday, 8 a.m.-7 p.m.; Friday, 7 a.m.-2 p.m.; and closed on weekends. Call 501337-9994 or visit https://higginbothamfamilyclinic.com/ to schedule an appointment.
The urgent care clinic is open for walk-in, non-emergent care. Normal hours of operation for the urgent care services are Monday-friday, 8 a.m.-8 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m.3 p.m.; and closed on Sunday. People seeking COVID tests may want to call the facility first at 501-229-2920 to check on the types of testing available and expected wait-times for results.