By Debbie Flessner
For more than 20 years, the Sarasota Medical Center (SMC) has been caring for Sarasota patients’ medical needs, from rashes to chest pains, at its South Tamiami Trail location. As a walk-in medical clinic, their board-certified emergency and primary care physicians’ expertise is sought by patients who need a reliable healthcare facility where they can go for all their medical concerns.
Recently SMC opened a second office, on Siesta Key giving residents, snowbirds and visitors a nearby option for treatment. Office manager Dana Pierce says the new location, in Davidson’s Plaza in Siesta Key Village, was chosen because the medical center saw a need to be filled.
“There are no MDs here on the Key, and we know that people out here never want to leave the Key, unless they have to,” she said. “We’re more than happy to provide these services to residents and guests.”
The facility is both an urgent care and a primary care center, and they accept walk-ins, as well as appointments. For established residents and snowbirds, Dr. Pierre Nedelcovych or any of the other four physicians on staff can act as a primary doctor, offering routine physical exams, physicals for work and school, pediatric and women’s healthcare and preventive medicine.
They can even conduct x-rays, ultrasounds, echocardiograms and EKGs, and run lab work onsite, since SMC is equipped as a full service medical center.
“We’re also a unique office in that all of our physicians are ER-trained,” Pierce said. “They can do what an emergency room does, but cheaper and lot quicker.”
Wait times for hospital emergency rooms can often be lengthy and tedious, so if someone requires immediate medical treatment, a walk-in facility like SMC is a great option. The qualified medical personnel can treat lacerations and cuts and most types of illnesses and sports injuries, plus they offer vaccinations and flu and allergy shots, run tests for respiratory function and perform minor surgeries.
Perhaps best of all, SMC accepts most major insurances, including Medicare, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Aetna, Cigna, Human and United.
“We also take workman’s comp and handle auto accident victims,” Pierce said.
She added that many doctors will not agree to see accident victims, because insurance companies tend to draw out the process so long that it can be years before a doctor gets paid for the treatment. SMC can make scheduled appointments for accident victims and offer medical therapies to assist in recovery from the accident.
Lastly, the medical center is offering aesthetic care at this and its South Tamiami Trail locations.
The intention is to promote health, wellness and beauty by offering non-surgical procedures at reasonable prices. On the menu of services are: Botox, Juvederm, Vein Sclerotherapy and a physician-monitored weight loss program.
Sarasota Medical Center is in Davidson’s Plaza, in Siesta Key Village, at 5132 Ocean Blvd., and is open Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday, from 8 a.m. to noon during the month of December. For more information, or to make an appointment, visit the website at www.SarasotaMedCenter.com, or call 941-312-6708.
Author: Siesta Sand