Failure of United Way 211 service

Every day someone is faced with a medical emergency.  My situation occurred during the care of a loved one on a Saturday.  Try to find medical treatment on a Saturday or Sunday.

In Cuyahoga County, most public employees are trained to use the service 211.

http://www.211cleveland.org/ContactUs.aspx [1]

My first reaction to the medical emergency, which I incorrectly assessed as not life threatening, was to find an urgent care or primary care facility that would take blood and properly assess the symptoms. 

I have been conditioned to not burden an ER with this type of need.  I made the wrong decision--I live near Metrohealth and I should have taken my partner to Metrohealth first.

Instead, I called 211.  After a wait, the operator fumbled and gave me the phone number for the "closest" urgent care--Fairview Park Hospital.  It turns out that most hospitals are seemingly phasing these out.  Fairview has closed their urgent care service and refers folks to their Emergency Room.

I had heard about Parma's urgent care.  Ditto.  Also, closed.  We both knew a friend who had been treated on a weekend at Southwest General.  We ended up going to that Urgent Care in Brookpark, but by the skeletal services there we sensed that this facility, too--will be phased out.  The doctor at the Southwest Urgent Care was competent, but could not order the tests that would have addressed the needs of my partner.

She administered one higher dosage of the medicine he had been prescribed and gave us a prescription for a much more expensive medicine.  The patient's condition did not improve and the next working day that we could (Tuesday), we sought additional medical treatment.  Fortunately, through my insured care provider, I received the information,  I should have received from 211.  Metrohealth operates a Sat/Sun walk-in clinic on Broadway--there are additional Metrohealth clinics in the City of Cleveland and in Cuyahoga County suburbs:

http://www.metrohealth.org/body.cfm?id=744 [2]

If you don't have insurance or full insurance coverage--I recommend that you take one day to get rated at Metrohealth and get into their system. Metrohealth also offers dental and mental health treatments.

If you are unsure about any health crisis--go to the Emergency Room first.  It's the best option available to any of us these days.  That, and a rabbit's foot. 

How much do we pay for 211??