Northeast Queens parents will soon have an alternative to which they may turn if they don’t want to bring their children to the emergency room.
PM Pediatrics, an afterhours urgent care practice, will open March 11 on the upper level of .
Open 365 days a year with weekday hours from 5 p.m. to midnight and weekends from noon to midnight, this will be the organization’s first practice in New York City. Other locations include Syosset, Selden and Mamaroneck.
“We want to open when the Primary Care doctors close,” said Bayside doctor. Jeffrey Schor, one of the founders and a former Director of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at New York Hospital Queens. “We’re not out there to take their patients away. We want to be there for patients so they don’t have to go to the emergency department.”
The staffers are pediatric emergency specialists who specialize in treating urgent medical situations and minimizing pain. They can provide care and treat a variety of illnesses and injuries as well as provide stitches, take x-rays, and tests for strep, mono, the flu and other diseases.
To make the experience less frightening for children, all locations come equipped with video games, books and televisions in every room.
“Bayside was a logical location for us,” Schor said. “We wanted to start going into New York City. It’s a good entry point to start seeing people [from the city].” It’s also an area he knows quite well. “When I was in first grade, I would walk to the shopping center where this is going to be and get pizza.”
Schor and his colleagues believe that running PM Pediatrics is their mission.
“We believe very very strongly in what we do,” Schor said.
That’s why they’re always open, even during snowstorms. In 2010, their Syosset location helped 26,000 children.
“We hope that Bayside will have the same impact and want to be prepared for that,” he added.
For more information on PM Pediatrics, visit their website.
