Dr. Schumacher seeks to meet need in town
Urgent Care Clinic opens April 1
Pea Ridge Urgent Care is going to be a walk-in urgent care. There are no appointments.
Dr. Alan Schumacher, owner of the new clinic, said he wanted to meet a need that doesn’t currently exist in town.
“If you cut yourself badly or break a bone, you have a 45 minute drive,” he said, referring to the need to drive to a neighboring city for either urgent care or an emergency room. He said family practice doctors don’t usually take walk-ins.
“We need things to be managed now,” he said. “The medical need is so high in the community.”
“The nurse practitioners are going to be the primary providers,” he said. “They are going to be the people who see the patients. I’m going to be here for overflow and consultation.”
“We’ll do 90% of the labs anyone will need to have done,” Schumacher said.
“My personal decision is involved in so many little details here that I really feel a great deal of ownership,” Schumacher said, pointing out design elements.
There are eight exam rooms one of which includes a “power chair” which will electronically rise from a low position accommodating wheel-chair patients and others.
“I’m very procedure oriented in medicine,” Schumacher said. “I like procedures. I like fixing things.”
“A lot of medicine is chemistry — bio chemistry. You can turn people’s lives around with that,” he said. “I’m a big huge believer that so many things that are wrong with us we could have fixed ourselves if we’d lived life well … the preceding years.”
Patients will be seen on a first come first serve basis, but also based on the severity of illness or injury, according to officer manager April Landry.
“We will also provide routine care, but it will also be on a walk-in basis,” she said.
Schumacher praised Landry for her work in getting the business started.
“She gets all the credit for that. She’s taken ownership,” he said.
Services provided include upper respiratory (cough, cold/flu, covid, ear infections, etc.); low level trauma: lacerations/stitches, cuts, bruises, sprains/strains, back injuries, back injuries, etc.; on-site x-ray (i.e. chest x-rays, bone and joint x-rays, etc.); onsite laboratory for common labs (anemia, infections, UTI, pregnancy, STDs, pneumonia, liver function, CBC, kidney function, diabetes, etc.); EKG; and routine physicals (school/work).
Full-time employees include Sharon McIntosh, administrative assistant; Liz Hoskins, medical receptionist; Tina Baker, medical assistant/lab tech; Alisa “Ali” Branscum, lead nurse practitioner; Megan Lane, nurse practitioner; Lisa Johnson and Mason Einspahr, registered nurses. Part-time employees include Stacy Trardi and Tami McWhorter, medical receptionists; and Rhonda Baker, RN PRN; Brandi Knowlton, RN PRN; Corey Dillard, RN PRN; Dana Abbott, NP PRN; Kellie Crowl, NP PRN; and Brandy Vines, NP PRN.
“I’m really happy with our people,” Schumacher said. He believes it’s his role to educate patients and help them live healthier lives. “Education is an enormous part of health care.”
He is licensed to practice medicine in Arkansas and Missouri.
Mary Beth Brooks, director of the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center with the University of Arkansas, was extremely helpful in getting the business started, he said. He also expressed gratitude to First Western Bank — “a local/regional bank, small bank that is pumping a lot of money into this process.”
A ribbon cutting is planned for 2 p.m. Saturday, March 30.