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Mercy Urgent Care

Asheville, Brevard, Burnsville, Columbus, Waynesville & Weaverville NC

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flu season

Mercy Urgent Care offering free flu shots at new Waynesville facility

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Mercy Urgent Care, a not-for-profit health care organization headquartered in Asheville, is offering free flu shots on Monday, Jan. 13, outside of its new, soon-to-open facility in Waynesville.

Dedicated to providing compassionate, affordable care to all in Western North Carolina, Mercy will administer up to 150 free vaccines from 3-6 p.m. in front of the new location, at 124 Frazier St., Suite 6. A tent will be set up for the event in the parking lot of the brand-new urgent care center, located in the Publix Plaza just off the Great Smoky Mountains Expressway Exit 102.

This promotion follows recent, tragic news of two flu-related deaths in Haywood County, an area hit especially hard by this season’s wave of influenza. Mercy Urgent Care hopes that this donation of 150 vaccines helps to increase access to the flu shot and decrease the flu’s spread in local patients.

Flu shots, which regularly cost $34.99 before insurance, are available for ages 8 and up at all seven (soon to be eight) Mercy Urgent Care locations across Western North Carolina. Covered by many health care plans, the flu vaccine reduces a person’s risk of developing a flu-related illness by an average of 61 percent.

Each season, between 5 and 20 percent of the U.S. population comes down with the virus — and the 2019/2020 season in particular has proven itself particularly severe early on, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Mercy Urgent Care Waynesville is slated to open on Tuesday, Feb. 4, and will be open seven days per week, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This new location will bring high-quality, affordable and convenient medical care for non-life-threatening illnesses and injuries to Haywood County, giving patients in the Waynesville area access to walk-in care at a fraction of the cost of an ER visit.

National Handwashing Week

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Flu season is upon us, and one of the best ways to safeguard against sickness is to wash your hands. In celebration of National Handwashing Week, Mercy Urgent Care is sharing these tips and tricks from the Centers from Disease Control and Prevention to help you and your family stay germ free this holiday season.

Washing your hands is easy, and it’s one of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of germs. Clean hands can stop germs from spreading from one person to another and throughout an entire community—from your home and workplace to childcare facilities and hospitals. It’s important to remember to wash your hands throughout the day, not just before eating and after using the bathroom. Follow these five steps every time.

  1. Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold), turn off the tap, and apply soap.
  2. Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.
  3. Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end twice.
  4. Rinse your hands well under clean, running water.
  5. Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them.

Washing hands with soap and water is the best way to get rid of germs in most situations. If soap and water are not readily available, you can use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. You can tell if the sanitizer contains at least 60% alcohol by looking at the product label. Sanitizers can quickly reduce the number of germs on hands in many situations. However,

  • Sanitizers do not get rid of all types of germs.
  • Hand sanitizers may not be as effective when hands are visibly dirty or greasy.
  • Hand sanitizers might not remove harmful chemicals from hands like pesticides and heavy metals.

Personal hygiene begins and ends with our hands. And, while washing your hands is important, vaccines are your body’s best defense against the flu. Learn more about the flu shot (including a flu shot FAQ) here.

Got the flu? Urgent care vs. ER

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With flu season in North Carolina currently at its peak, medical experts are urging those with non-life-threatening flu symptoms to stay away from hospital emergency rooms and instead seek treatment at urgent care centers.

Why urgent care over ER?

During peak flu season, emergency departments around the country flood with patients experiencing mild to moderate flu-like symptoms, and many who seek treatment in emergency rooms are not sick enough to be there. For otherwise healthy individuals, flu symptoms can be treated quickly and most effectively at urgent care clinics or primary care providers — and hospital emergency departments can then focus on the patients that most need intensive care.

Additionally, many severe colds often mimic flu-like symptoms, and visiting an emergency room without the flu exposes you to others that do have the virus — putting you at risk for coming down with a more serious illness.

Visit an Urgent Care Clinic: Typical symptoms of the flu in a healthy person are: high fever, muscle or body aches, cough or sore throat, congestion, exhaustion and loss of appetite. For these symptoms, patients should see their primary care provider or visit an urgent care clinic for treatment.

Visit an Emergency Room: Flu-related complications considered severe are: chest pain, confusion or altered mental status, persistent vomiting, fever with rash, respiratory distress or difficulty breathing. Patients experiencing these symptoms should go to the emergency room. If a patient is in a high-risk group — infants, toddlers, individuals 65 and older, pregnant women or those with severe chronic illnesses or suppressed immune systems — a visit to the emergency room may also be necessary.

Here at Mercy Urgent Care, we’re prepared to treat your mild-to-moderate flu symptoms, so that you can get back to feeling your best as soon as possible. If you or a loved one is experiencing the above non-life-threatening flu symptoms, consider stopping in at one of Mercy’s six urgent care facilities in West, South and East Asheville, Brevard, Weaverville or Burnsville. We hope you feel better soon!