ST. LOUIS — A recent surge in COVID-19 cases and a new variant at play has started to cause issues for those seeking services that are not COVID-related.
Dr. Sonny Saggar and his staff at 24/7 Healthcare have had their hands tied since the beginning of the pandemic when that issue first came up.
"We're seeing 150 people a day at each location. Our volume easily quadrupled, and we've got half the staff," he said.
Saggar added that when primary care doctors' offices were closed, his office and others similar to it were able to step in and fill the gap. 24/7 Healthcare has the only two urgent facilities in the region open around the clock.
"We did actually have a lot of primary care doctors send their patients to us to get medication refills which are very important especially if you think of inhalers for an asthmatic or insulin for a diabetic."
The physician pointed to a lack of resources and manpower for that.
He said it was also not uncommon for people to run into issues virtually if health facilities did not have someone dedicated specifically to those patients as his facilities do.
"If they are getting overwhelmed with patients in front of them, telemedicine becomes a lower priority," he said.
Saggar's optimistic that COVID will slow after the impact the holiday surge might have but asked society to be resilient and respectful in the meantime.
"All we can do is be patient and be thankful for what we have," he continued.
24/7 Healthcare has two locations:
24/7 Healthcare - Downtown
916 Olive Street
St. Louis, M0 63101
or Directly at (314) 436-9300
24/7 Healthcare - Creve Coeur
13035 Olive Boulevard
Creve Coeur, MO 63141
or Directly at (314) 548-6550
Patients can show up to get a COVID swab, be it a rapid or PCR.
The least busy time is between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.
Patients can pre-register online by clicking here.