Ludington hospital to open walk-in clinic.

LUDINGTON — Spectrum Health Ludington Hospital is opening its new Convenient Care Walk-In Clinic on Monday, February 29. People who feel ill or have minor injuries, but don’t require emergency care, will be able to get immediate medical attention without an appointment.

The Convenient Care Walk-In Clinic is located at 7 Atkinson Drive, Suite 113 in the medical office building attached to the hospital. It is just inside the south entrance of the office building, very close to the patient parking lot off of Ludington Avenue.

The walk-in clinic will be open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., with expanded weekday hours and Saturday hours beginning in spring of 2016.

Luanne Parks

“Spectrum Health and Spectrum Health Medical Group have implemented both urgent care and convenient care walk-in clinics when developing integrated care facilities, where patients can receive multiple services in one location,” said Mark Vipperman, Ludington Hospital president. “Ludington’s is the third convenient care clinic to be implemented, joining clinics in Newaygo and Greenville.  We will be adding another convenient care clinic in Hart this year.”

“Our goal is to identify and meet the community’s health needs, whatever form they take. Access to medical care is the number one issue people mentioned in our latest community health needs assessment. This is one of the primary initiatives to address that need.”

Vipperman added that the Ludington walk-in clinic will improve access in three major ways:

• Adding another experienced medical provider to the hospital’s medical staff.
• Providing an office where people can get immediate medical care without an appointment for low acuity health needs, but with full-service laboratory and medical imaging services nearby in the hospital facility if needed.
• Seeing all patients, regardless of their primary care provider or insurance status, including visitors and tourists.

Dr, Mary O’Callaghan, regional chief for the Spectrum Health Medical Group, said, “The new Convenient Care Walk-In Clinic is designed to care for existing patients, new patients and visiting patients, regardless of insurance status and primary care provider.  The clinic will provide follow-up documentation back to each patient’s primary care physician, if there is one.”

The Convenient Care Walk-In Clinic shares an office with one of the hospital’s family medicine practices, which relocated to the hospital campus earlier this year.

“We were very fortunate to attract Luanne Parks, an experienced family medicine nurse practitioner… to join us as the lead provider at the walk-in clinic,” said Jim Wincek, the chief operating officer at Spectrum Health Ludington Hospital.

Parks has been serving as a hospitalist at Spectrum Health’s Big Rapids and Reed City hospitals. She previously provided medical care at Lakeside Women’s Health Center in Ludington, Baldwin Family Health Care, and Affordable Basic Care Medical Clinic in Grand Rapids.

Parks received her master of science in nursing at Michigan State University, and her doctor of nurse practitioner degree from Walden University. She is board certified as an advanced practice provider by the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

Parks is also affiliated with the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, Michigan Council of Nurse Practitioners, and Sigma Theta Tau International, the honor society of nursing.

More information about the Convenient Care Walk-In Clinic is available online at ludingtonwalkinclinic.org. The phone number is 231.843.3700.