LANSING, MI — Covid-19 cases are on the rise in Michigan and those working at Lansing Urgent care say they are overwhelmed trying to keep up.
The owner's Terry and Catherine Matthews say their clinics are seeing twice the volume of patients that they're used to seeing.
"East Lansing is third in the nation for new cases per capita and we're really feeling that and seeing that every day," Terry said.
He says they are mostly taking care of patients who have or think they may have COVID. They're also doing COVID tests and vaccinations.
"They are working in ways and really seeing patient volumes that really they just shouldn’t be seeing. We’ve planned for it, we ramped up staff, we’ve done a lot of hiring in the last couple of weeks to help address this surge,” Terry said.
Medical Assistant Ellen Hardy says it's been a lot to handle.
"We’ve been picking up numerous shifts a week just trying to make sure that everything runs as smoothly as possible,” Hardy said.
“In a typical day, we see probably around 100 patients a day a lot of that is covid testing. A lot of my job as well is getting results in for those covid test.”
She says she gets about 200 to 300 labs a day that she needs to call on and let patients know their results. She also says there's a lot of behind the scene stuff that people don't see and it's more than just taking a nasal swab.
"It’s taking that swab and making sure we have proper documentation and making sure we are able to follow up on that in a timely manner," Hardy said.
She says it's been taxing and tiring trying to pick up and keep up with the new cases.
According to the state dashboard, Ingham County has had 19,044 confirmed cases as of Wednesday.
Terry and Catherine believe people may be starting to let their guard down by traveling, not wearing masks, or social distancing strictly as they once were.
“The reality is most people who get this virus simply have no symptoms so you’re going to see them they feel fine. And i think we kind of forget that this is a virus that people carry asymptomatically,” Terry said.
Here's how you can help them help you. You can use their online registration prior to coming in.
“They can preregister give us all their insurance information fill out their forms everything online. It’s very helpful to the staff if we can get them registered before they even walk through the door,” Assistant Director of Clinical Services Abby Kochensparger said.
You can also get vaccinated, continue social distancing, and wearing your mask.
“Keep your guard up in between your doses and then also after your doses especially around people who are unvaccinated. Because you may get the vaccine but you may be able to get covid but with no symptoms and then you can potentially put other people in danger,” Catherine said.
And most importantly you can be patient with the healthcare workers because they are working crazy hours and are also dealing with the same problems as you.
Lansing Urgent Care is also hiring and says this could also help them keep up with the surge. For more information click here.
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