Your kid’s acting a little off and a little more sniffly than usual; and you begin the typical stages. So you work through the equivocation that he really is sick, and the anger that you can’t catch a break—and have precious little PTO left—and decide it’s time for some medical care.

Then comes the family juggling act. One sick kid means you need to figure out childcare for the other kids, or drag them along to urgent care or the pediatrician’s office too. There, you will spend each moment hoping your kids don’t put the communal toys in their mouths or suddenly become best friends with a child who has the charming habit of coughing directly in their faces.

This perceived risk is more than anecdotal. A 2014 study published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology found an increase in flu-like illnesses in children and their family members within two weeks of a doctor’s visit. The American Academy of Pediatrics confirms this increased risk encountered in pediatric ambulatory settings, particularly waiting rooms. While hand-washing and other methods are helpful in decreasing this danger, little kids aren’t exactly known for their excellent hygiene and risk-aversion.

And when the pediatrician’s office is closed, families often find themselves in emergency rooms, even for non-emergency conditions. In fact, in 2017, the International Journal for Quality in Health Care found that a large number of visits to the ER were for conditions that would have been “more suitably treated in primary care settings.”

But with a lack of alternatives, many patients avail themselves of very costly and time-consuming emergency room visits. Not only do ER visits cost much more than a visit to primary (or even urgent care), but wait times in these settings can be hours— some states report three hours wait as the average!

But it doesn’t have to be this way—what if your living room was your waiting room?

Vitable Health is disrupting the system by bringing urgent care to you. For just a flat fee of $79, they will send a Board Certified nurse practitioner to you, any time, even late at night and on the weekends. In the comfort of your own home (or workplace), they can evaluate your symptoms and come up with a treatment plan; and they can even write prescriptions when medically appropriate.

From flu-like symptoms to ear infections to minor sprains and wounds, Vitable can provide individualized, high-quality care for a wide range of non-emergency conditions on adults and children ages 18 months and up. They are even able to do physicals for camp, school, or work clearances, all on your schedule.

Vitable Health will serve the Main Line, as well as West Philly, when it launches this week.  To set up an appointment, call 484-416-0769 or sign up on their website: www.vitablehealth.com

Main Line Parent readers get 30% off their first visit with promo code MLPVitable

Story by Laura Swartz. Photographs provided by Vitable Health.