Let’s Talk Health with Dr. Neutze
At Family Medicine, we want to offer the best, most efficient care, whether it is during the day, in the evenings or on the weekend.
Why should you have a primary care doctor?
A primary care provider (PCP) will see you for chronic conditions, acute health care needs and preventive care. When you develop a continuity relationship with a PCP, they can help keep you healthy, long-term, through team-based, holistic care.
However, urgent medical care issues and emergencies are a fact of life. When something is wrong with your health, it can be difficult to decide what services to use. Unfortunately, in our health care system today, emergency rooms are overrun with issues that could be better managed by your primary provider or their team.
What’s the difference between the Emergency Room and Urgent Care?
Emergency rooms (ER) are for, well, emergencies! The ER offers rapid care for patients experiencing life-threatening and/or severe complications. People think that ERs are faster, but often patients have long waits if their condition is less serious. Urgent care is available for patients experiencing pressing, but non-severe problems. See the infographic below for examples of when go to the ER and when it would be best to go to your PCP or to urgent care.
Where can I go for urgent care?
The UNC Family Medicine Center has always worked to have same day appointments for urgent needs. We have now expanded our availability to evenings and weekends for even more access. We offer urgent care on weekdays 7AM – 9PM (closed 12PM – 1PM for lunch), and on weekends from 12PM – 5PM.
These expanded hours are for when something comes up that cannot wait for an appointment with your regular primary care provider.
What are the advantages of using the Family Medicine Center for urgent needs?
The providers you will see are the same ones that work in the clinic. You might even run into your PCP! These providers will take a holistic-approach to your care, and make sure that you are scheduled to follow up on your health issues.
And of course, the cost of a visit to an urgent care is much less than to an ER. In fact, for most established UNC Family Medicine patients, the co-pay for Urgent Care is the same as your primary care co-pay, not the usual Urgent Care deposit.
That said, our Urgent Care is not just for Family Medicine patients—we welcome everyone!
Meet our Care Managers
Meet our care managers, Amy and Rayhaan! For those who don’t know, a care manager helps patients manage barriers to care and access resources to address a patient’s needs.
Care managers also:
- Help patients and family members navigate the healthcare system; they handle concerns and facilitate conversation with the patient’s primary care provider.
- Provide continuity for patients and family members, acting as an extension of the primary care provider
- Serve as the voice of underserved and underrepresented patient populations at leadership meetings, specifically as it relates to program development and outreach.
- Engage in population health management through chart review and proactive outreach.
If you are having issues accessing care, have financial burdens, or need additional resources, a care manager may be able to help. If you feel you need these services, speak to your provider.
Amy Prentice, LCSW earned her BSW from Appalachian State University in 2008 and her MSW from the University of North Carolina in 2009. Currently, Amy serves as one of the Care Managers at the UNC Family Medicine Center. She enjoys working in integrated healthcare, and has clinical interests in reducing health disparities, implementing concepts of the patient centered medical home, quality improvement, practice transformation, as well as social work and residency education.
Rayhaan Adams, LCSW is a two-time graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, receiving his BA in Psychology in 2011 and his MSW in 2013. Currently, Rayhaan serves as one of the Care Managers at the UNC Family Medicine Center. He helps patients go from the inpatient to outpatient setting, and helps bridge the primary care gap so that patients don’t have to return to the hospital.
New Living Life Well Mindfulness Class!
Living Life Well is a free 6-week class for individuals who are interested in learning mindfulness strategies to promote overall health and wellbeing.
We are now offering a class Fridays, 2:00PM – 3:30PM October 19-November 30, 2018 (no class on Friday November 23rd). To register, please call: 984-974-4975 or register online.
Additional classes will be added soon! Interested individuals may also indicate their interest in being contacted for a future class by registering and selecting “interested in a future class” as their preferred “class.”
Participants will receive a free program workbook and CD with mindfulness practice recordings.
Meet our newest provider, Erik Butler, DO
This month, we’re welcoming Erik Butler, DO to our team.
“When I was 14 years old, I was in a serious accident,” says Dr. Butler. “A great doctor saved my life. The experience of being a patient inspired me to want to help others and become a physician. I have been taking care of patients and their families in North Carolina for over 10 years.”
“It is a privilege to care for patients through all stages of life. I approach each patient as a unique individual and try to provide the care I would want for my own family. I like to help my patients achieve their personal health goals, make informed medical decisions, and navigate the health care system. I am particularly interested in cardiovascular health, dermatology, musculoskeletal medicine and prevention of disease.”
“Having grown up in Florida, I enjoy sharing my love for the ocean and surfing with my wife and four children. I also enjoy beekeeping and gardening.”
Dr. Butler is interested in individual and community care, cardiovascular health, dermatology, musculoskeletal medicine, and disease prevention. In addition to seeing continuity patients, you may see Dr. Butler in Urgent Care!
To see his full profile, select here.
From the research corner
Dr. Gourlay just did a study on bone density testing. In this article in the New York Time, she weighs in on her recent research and what it means for patients.If you’re under 65 and wondering about bone density testing, read this article in the New York Times.
Dr. Becker-Dreps was lead author on a paper about the TDaP immunization. The study found that infants whose mothers received a prenatal TDaP immunization were half as likely to get pertussis as those whose mothers who did not get the vaccine. Read more on WUNC’s website here. [link: http://wunc.org/post/study-finds-third-trimester-vaccine-significantly-reduces-pertussis-infants#stream/0 ]
We’re on social media!
You can find UNC Family Medicine on Facebook and Twitter as @uncfammed; we are also now on Instagram as @uncfamilymedicine. We post photos of our residents, staff, and faculty, recent news and research, clinic updates, photos of new providers, and health information.
And yes, we even know how to use #hashtags!