We know how important your child's health is as we head back to school, so we have partnered with PhysicianOne Urgent Care to help keep mom calm and kids healthy!

Raise your hand if your kids get sick at the most inopportune times. It is the Murphy’s Law of Motherhood. It may come as a call from daycare/the school nurse at 2 p.m. the day before the biggest presentation of your career. Or it may come at 8:02 a.m. the morning you are leaving for a three-day weekend at the Cape, just as you finish packing the car.

The excruciating ear pain, the high fever, that weird rash that is definitely spreading before your very eyes. Your pediatrician is about to close for the night/weekend or can’t see you until tomorrow. At which point you will have missed the vacation/presentation/school day, etc. You need help, and you need it now.

It takes a village, and moms need a trusted urgent care partner as part of that village. Your go-to urgent care will save you in a (minor) crisis. Not a life- or limb-threatening crisis — go to the ER for those, obviously.

I recently took my 3-year-old son to an urgent care close to our home (we’ll refer to it as Other Guy) and they missed his strep diagnosis. He had classic strep symptoms, and it was going around daycare, but the doctor didn’t test him because he didn’t want to bother a 3-year-old with a throat swab. I questioned this while we were there but was brushed aside. I had an uneasy feeling that something wasn’t right with our visit, but I ignored my mother’s intuition and we went on with our busy lives.

Fast forward a few days and my son seemed to have fully recovered but my 6-year-old daughter developed symptoms identical to those my son had — a high fever and a sore throat. A friend had a great experience with PhysicianOne Urgent Care, so I loaded the kids in the car and drove to the closest location at University Station in Westwood. While we were there I explained to the doctor what had happened with my son a week earlier, and she got an uneasy look on her face. She explained that untreated strep can be extremely dangerous, so why not rule it out with a simple test? Turns out both my kids had strep, so they began treatment right away, thanks to PhysicianOne Urgent Care and their thorough examination of both my kids.

Later that night I did what every sane mother would do and consulted Dr. Google to learn all about what can happen if strep is left untreated. It is very scary and completely avoidable when properly diagnosed and treated.

So now our go-to is PhysicianOne Urgent Care. They have online check-in, extended and weekend hours, on-site X-rays — and they take my insurance. All these reasons are great, but the real reason we go to PhysicianOne Urgent Care is because not all urgent care centers are created equal (or thorough). And they kind of saved my kid.

While you’re getting ready to go back to school and are looking for that go-to urgent care, make like the kids and do some homework before you choose. PhysicianOne Urgent Care is not only convenient for busy moms, they are staffed by board certified medical providers who practice thorough, high-quality medicine. Keep them in mind and check them out at P1UC.com. You’ll be glad you did when you need to enlist help from your healthcare village this cold and flu season.

With locations in Westwood (University Station), Chestnut Hill (across from The Street shops), Waltham (Trapelo Road), and Medford (Wellington Circle Plaza) they’ve got you covered.

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