University of Iowa officials opened a fourth UI QuickCare location on Aug. 15, and officials say it will help meet the community’s increasing demand for health services.

“Compared with the summer before, the number of patient visits has continued to increase by an average of 16.8 percent,” UI spokesman Tom Moore said. “So obviously, the demand is there, the demand is growing, the need is obvious, and we’re just doing are best to meet that demand in the community.”

The latest QuickCare to open is located at 767 Mormon Trek Blvd., and it will serve the West Side of Iowa City and provide the same health services as other QuickCare locations. 

“We try to place the QuickCares on different sides of town so that we are serving the community no matter where they live,” clinic manager Connie Phommaly said.

QuickCare is an acute-care walk-in facility that does not require an appointment. The clinic provides health care to anyone in the community and sees people as young as 6 months old.

“It provides additional options for patients who have conditions that wouldn’t necessarily require a trip to the emergency room,” Moore said. “[It’s an] additional access and convenience for patients.”

Phommaly agrees the clinic is yet another source for health care.

“We don’t want to take place of anybody’s primary-care provider,” she said.

UI second-year medical student Tana Friesth thinks the new clinic will benefit the community.

“I think using QuickCare takes away some of the demand placed on the emergency room,” she said. “A lot of people need medical care quickly without making an appointment, and some of those people end up at the ER for things that don’t need to be taken care of there. [QuickCare] can fill that demand.”

After being sick all week, UI junior Lindsey Hanson went to the clinic in the University Capitol Center to find out if she had something more than cold.

“It didn’t take too long for me to get in, but when I was done with my appointment, the waiting room was full of people,” she said.

Hanson predicted the new QuickCare will help with the traffic in the clinic.

“Opening a new one will help out the congestion, and it will allow people to be seen faster,” she said.  

Typically, each individual QuickCare services 25 to 30 patients per day, Phommaly said. Officials project they will see 30 to 35 patients per day at the new location on Mormon Trek.

The new QuickCare location has seen success so far.

“It’s doing very well,” Phommaly said. “I think on the West Side of town is not a part of town that we’ve touched yet. We are seeing a lot of people in that community.”

Moore predicts QuickCare demand will continue to grow.

“QuickCare clinics continue to be very popular, and we anticipate that their popularity will continue to increase,” he said.