The best kept secret in Cherry Hill

Last night, with many thanks to my friend Amanda (one of a handful of people who actually read this blog), I stumbled upon the absolute best kept secret in Cherry Hill.

Premiere Immediate Medical Care is a little slice of heaven and that is in no way an exaggeration.  For serious.  The boys have had head colds for over a week now.  I have been going back and forth the last couple of days about taking them to the pediatrician because it didn't seem to be more than a head cold and I was borderline approaching the deadline of my pediatrician rules....

"Pediatrician rules?" you ask.  Yes. I have a few. Do you want to know what they are?

I do not bring my kids to the pediatrician every time they are sick.  Why?  No, not because I am a negligent mother.  Through  my countless visits to the pediatricians office between the three kids and many conversations with my pediatrician I have discovered the following things.  They will not treat my kids unless they have had a fever for more than three days.  They also will not treat my kids for a cold unless it's been over 7-10 days and they are not getting better. The few exceptions to this are if they seem to be in pain besides the normal "my head is stuffy, I can't breath out of my nose, I am not sleeping well" crankiness, if I suspect an ear ache, or if their fever is crazy high and it's freaking me out.

I love our pediatricians office.  The doctor we try to see regularly, Dr. Sarah, is wonderful.  The other doctors there we've seen are amazing as well.  They do however take a long ass time to answer the phones which drives me crazy, but this cold season is insane as I've mentioned many times before so I can only imagine how busy they are.  The other awesome thing about the pediatricians office is that they take you in on same day sick visits if you feel you need one even if that means they are there until 10pm.

Case in point, yesterday Than woke up from his afternoon nap screaming because he couldn't open his crusty eyes.  At 3:30 I called the pedi office to take him in scared that it was pink eye.  They had an appointment for both boys all right, but not until 9:30pm.  Yikes!  I scheduled the appointment but told them I was going to try out Urgent Care if we could get in there earlier.

Chris came home and off with the boys I went to Urgent Care, which is right around the corner from our house and is covered by our insurance with just a slightly higher co-pay, but 1/2 of what it would have cost me to take them to the ER. And you just walk right in without an appointment. Sounds good, right?

Wait. It gets better.  We pull in to the parking lot and I am surprised by how empty the lot is.  Oh what is this next door?  A pharmacy that fills Urgent Care prescriptions in 5 minutes.  It can't possibly get better than this. Until it does.

The place was immaculate.  Every inch of the waiting room and office was clean.  The staff were friendly.  They were great with my kids! I fell in love. Instantly.  Did I mention the part where we didn't even have to wait?  We handed the receptionist our paperwork and as soon as I sat down and pulled out some entertainment for the boys we were being called back to the room.  The nurse took their vitals and two minutes later the physicians assistant was in there taking care of them.

Both boys are now on Augmentin for sinus infections and Thanny has eye ointment for his crusties, which she says are mostly likely do to the sinus infection.  Last night was a doozy with both of them being up.  I'm pretty sure I didn't get to sleep until 3:30 a.m. and Chris fell asleep on the boys bedroom floor.  At least it's carpeted, right?

So, next time you're in South Jersey and you or your kids are sick.  I highly recommend them.  I have a feeling it isn't the last they've seen of us. For sure!  They are open 9am - 9pm 365 days a year! Yes, you read that right.  When you've stuffed yourself silly on Thanksgiving and think you're having a heart attack they'll be open. Feel free to stop by for a quick EKG.

I can't believe I have been driving by this place for the last two years and had no idea!!