Same-day care from someone you know and trust

By: Matt Baertlein, PA-C, Internal Medicine, Winona Health

Primary care—Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, or Pediatrics—is your main access point for non-emergency health care. Being established with a primary care provider gives you access to annual exams, screenings, and medical care for common conditions. It’s also a starting point if you need specialty care.

Establishing care with a primary care provider usually begins with reviewing your medical history, managing chronic conditions, and performing routine screenings. But it’s also about building a relationship. Trusting relationships are important in all areas of life. Would you rather take your vehicle to a mechanic you know and trust when it breaks down—or to a random shop? The same idea applies to your health. When something feels wrong and you don’t know where to go, your primary care provider can assess for serious problems or check for something you may not be aware of. From there, we can provide the care you need or refer you to an appropriate specialist.

In Primary Care, we also check for common conditions and treat them early, before they turn into bigger problems. For example, we screen for diabetes and start diet and lifestyle changes, or manage your condition with medication, before it becomes a larger issue. Untreated diabetes can cause neuropathy (nerve damage), kidney disease, or heart disease. A primary care provider helps you understand why managing chronic conditions is important and how to avoid serious complications. We also screen for high cholesterol and high blood pressure. If left untreated, these conditions can lead to heart attacks, strokes, and peripheral artery disease or other circulation problems.

Primary care is also the best place to start when you might need a referral to a specialist. Let’s say you have a backache and aren’t sure what it is. Could it be a kidney infection, a herniated disk, or just a pulled muscle? Your primary care provider can help figure that out. With same-day appointments, you can often be seen the same day to get started.

If we find it’s a herniated disk, there are many options: conservative management at home, physical therapy, chiropractic care, pain injections, or consultation with a neurosurgeon. Knowing what to do can be confusing. But if you have a trusted primary care provider, you can talk through your options and get the right care faster.

Not sure where to start? That’s okay. Many people don’t have a primary care provider until they need one. Having someone who knows your medical history can save time, worry, and unnecessary trips to the ED or Urgent Care. At Winona Health, same-day primary care appointments make it easy to get care for sudden symptoms or routine checkups—today.

Call 507.454.3650 or visit winonahealth.org/sameday to schedule your appointment.

Matt Baertlein, PA-C in Internal Medicine, talks about the importance of having a Primary Care provider.