Memorial urgent care in Owosso, Durand sends chest pain to the ER

If you walk into Memorial Healthcare's urgent care on East Main Street in Owosso with chest pain, you will be sent somewhere else. Chest pain "of any kind" is on a list of conditions Memorial says its urgent care clinics will not treat, published by the hospital on Oct. 7 in a guide to choosing between urgent care and the Emergency Department.

The same list rules out severe abdominal pain, trauma injuries, active or severe bleeding such as from a deep laceration, allergic reactions other than a rash, shortness of breath with pulse oxygenation of 92% or lower, and a "worst headache of life" or possible stroke symptoms, including numbness or weakness of the face or body or slurred speech. Two more items are the kind people routinely show up for anyway: auto accident injury assessments or follow-up care, and workers' compensation cases when drug screening is required. Mental health issues are also on the list.

Memorial's instruction for all of those is the Emergency Department at 826 W. King St. in Owosso, which the hospital says is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. "If you believe you may be experiencing a medical emergency, call 911 immediately," the guide says. "Do not delay emergency care while trying to determine whether urgent care is appropriate."

For everything short of that, Memorial runs three walk-in urgent care locations: 1002 E. Main St. in Owosso, 9099 E. Lansing Road, Suite B, in Durand, and 218 W. Main St., Suite 100, in Flushing, in Genesee County. All three are open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and see patients on a walk-in basis, with no appointment. Each has lab and X-ray on site.

What the clinics do handle, per the hospital: cuts and bruises, allergies, minor asthma attacks, minor broken bones, colds and flu and sore throats, ear, eye and skin infections, fevers, minor burns, wounds that may need stitches, sprains and strains, and urinary tract infections. They also run rapid tests for COVID-19, influenza A and B, RSV and strep throat — relevant as respiratory season arrives.

On the emergency side, Memorial says it is a Level IV Trauma Verified hospital and holds Acute Stroke Ready certification from The Joint Commission and the American Stroke Association. A Level IV trauma center is equipped to evaluate and stabilize serious injuries and transfer patients who need a higher level of surgical care; Acute Stroke Ready means a hospital is certified to begin emergency stroke treatment.

The guidance is the latest in a steady run of service announcements from the county's hospital. The Current reported in September that Memorial added general surgeon Gavin Ambrosi, and earlier this year that it brought on internal medicine physician Ali Al-Waili and psychologist Valerie Hooper, Psy.D., to its counseling service.

What happens next: the guide does not say where someone in a mental health crisis should go if urgent care won't see them and the Emergency Department isn't the right fit, and it lists no direct phone number for the Owosso or Durand urgent care clinics — only the hospital's main line, (989) 720-CARE (2273). It also does not say whether the 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. hours hold on holidays. The Current has asked Memorial for those answers.