A single injury or illness can throw your entire week into disarray.

You fret about work and lost hours. You think about the medical bills and how they can eat into your savings (what little you have). You might even be worried that your condition is already pretty bad and could get worse. Urgent care is an essential resource designed to curb all your worries before you’ve even stepped through the front door. Boasting short wait times and affordable costs, your next bout with the unexpected will finally be met head-on.

Here are five important details you should know about convenient health care and how urgent care fits into your life.

Urgent Care Centers Have Short Wait Times

Perhaps the least known element about urgent care models is the short wait time. Unlike scheduling an appointment with your regular doctor, the urgent care service is designed to get you in and out in a blink. Recent studies have shown the average wait time in an urgent care clinic is just 15 minutes, with the longest being 30 minutes. You’re already stressed enough as it is without waiting for hours hoping your condition doesn’t get worse. The convenience doesn’t end there, either.

You Can Find A Clinic Just About Anywhere

Worried you won’t be close enough to a clinic to reap the benefits? Lay those fears to rest. There are over 20,000 physicians practicing urgent care medicine today, with the Urgent Care Association estimating three million patients visit these centers every week. Whether it’s considered a walk-in clinic or a multicare clinic, you can be rest assured you won’t have to search very hard to find the best location. Now comes the most startling benefit of urgent care settings…

Convenient Medical Care Should Also Be Affordable

Medical debt is one of today’s most serious financial problems, even taking into account bankruptcy, student loan debt, and credit card debt. Your multicare Tacoma urgent care, however, will give you an alternative. Urgent care models are not just fast, but affordable, with bills averaging between $50 and $150 for many common treatments. Compare this to equivalent treatment at an emergency room, in which the bill can easily exceed the thousands due to ambulance fees. You need reliable health care, not compounded financial stress.

Minor And Moderate Injuries Or Illnesses Will Be Treated

You might be wondering which conditions will be treated in such a swift and low-cost manner. When it comes to injuries, expect cuts, burns, and fractures to be high on the list of quick fixes. Four out of five urgent care centers today provide quick and effective fracture care. Illnesses will also be treated, such as flu complications or severe nausea. The most common diagnosis in an urgent care center, according to recent studies, is the upper respiratory condition.

Preventative Care Measures Will Keep You Healthy

Last, but not least, you should consider preventative care measures to prepare for your future. This means useful vaccinations and essential physicals to get a good look at your overall health. The flu shot, for starters, needs to be taken every year to keep your immune system updated against the mutating flu strain. It’s estimated over Americans will come down with a collective one billion colds every year, with 5% to 20% succumbing to the flu, as well. Staying healthy means being proactive and reactive.

Your week doesn’t have to suffer. Let a Covington urgent care clinic help you out.