Courtesy Photo MidMichigan Urgent Care-Gladwin is pictured in this image provided by MidMichigan Health. Chuck Sherwin, president of MidMichigan Medical Center-Alpena, said the design for Alpena’s planned urgent care would be similar.

ALPENA — An urgent care is in the works for residents of Northeast Michigan.

MidMichigan Health has plans to open an urgent care clinic in Alpena, according to Chuck Sherwin, president of MidMichigan Medical Center-Alpena. The urgent care, which is still in the planning stages, would see patients on weekdays, including after doctors’ offices close on those days and on weekends.

Sherwin said MidMichigan Health recognizes the need for an urgent care in the communities it serves.

“It’s part of MidMichigan Health philosophy to provide needed and necessary services, and this is something that Alpena has really never had before,” he said. “So we see it as a gap and we want to be able to provide it.”

Sherwin said officials are currently looking at potential locations, but declined to say where those locations might be. However, he said, hospital officials do not want to direct all traffic to the hospital, so they are considering other locations in the community.

Hospital officials are also working to determine what the urgent care would cost, Sherwin said, noting construction costs escalated quickly during the pandemic. He said they don’t want costs to delay the project, but they want to make sure they’re prudent with the funding for the project.

Sherwin said urgent cares see patients with urgent needs and non-emergent needs. Patients would go to an urgent care with strains, sprains, minor burns or minor fractures, but would still go to an emergency room with emergent needs such as chest pains, stroke symptoms or if they were in a car accident.

The urgent care would be equipped with procedure rooms, a lab, and imaging services, such as an x-ray machine, to treat those urgent needs.

In addition to offering extended hours of care on weekdays and weekends, Sherwin said the urgent care would reduce the number of non-critical patients seen in the emergency room and lessen their wait time.

“It really puts patients in the right place for their care, and there’s less cost to the patient,” he said.

The urgent care would also be able to provide occupational health, where staff would work with local businesses or organizations, Sherwin said.

As an example, Sherwin said they could conduct physicals or drug and alcohol testing for the Michigan Department of Transportation at the urgent care. Staff could also complete hearing tests or administer vaccinations there.

“We’re working hard to make this a reality in Alpena, and it’s something we look forward to being able to do, and again, just providing additional services to our community that we currently don’t have,” he said.