A new Children’s Mercy Express Care location in Shawnee aims to give parents a local option to treat kids for minor sports injuries and illnesses.

On Oct. 12, Children’s Mercy opened its newest Express Care location near Kansas Highway 7 and Johnson Drive in Shawnee. It accepts both walk-in and scheduled appointments, with evening and weekend hours, to address kids’ medical needs in an urgent fashion.

“Our goal is really to get these kids back to being kids, right? And so the faster we get them in, the faster we get them their care, the faster we get them back to just doing what they love as a kid,” said Cati Kral, a pediatric sports medicine physician at the Shawnee location. 

Divided into two treatment services, the facility has an Express Care side, meant to treat minor illnesses and symptoms, and an orthopedic injury and sports medicine clinic aimed at treating broken bones, sprains and minor orthopedic injuries.

The Shawnee location is the second of its kind in the Kansas City area, following the opening of its Liberty location in March.

“One of the big goals that Children’s Mercy has had for the last couple of years is improving patient access,” Kral said. “Opening up this building, as well as our one in Liberty, has been our way to kind of meet that goal and meet these families and these athletes where they are in the community.”

The facility has flexible hours

Choosing Shawnee for its second location, Children’s Mercy wanted to put the facility in a place that’s a short drive away from where they live.

“We opened the Liberty location, and that’s close to home for me. So I know how impactful that is to the families in the community, and how important it is to be able to get services quickly and be able to get back to life because we’re all busy and moving so quickly with different activities,” said Julie Locascio, ambulatory surgical services senior director.

In order for the facility to help meet children’s medical care needs, its hours are meant to be flexible with busy schedules.

Those hours include:

• Express Care and Orthopedic Injury Clinic: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week
• Sports Medicine Clinic: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday

Its Express Care side covers minor, non-emergency illnesses and injuries, including:

• Cold and flu symptoms
• Ear infections
• Sore throats
• Minor cuts and burns
• Stomach illness

Meanwhile, its Orthopedic Injury Clinic has pediatric-trained orthopedic specialists available to treat the following injuries for children 1 and older:

• Broken bones
• Sprains
• Strains
• Other acute orthopedic injuries

Imaging for injuries and follow-up appointments are also available at the location.

The clinic treats children of all ages

With high school sports, including football, underway, the clinic expects to see and treat a lot of sports-related injuries, like concussions and sprains, Kral said.

“We (see) lots of concussions, some knee injuries, lots of fractures. So all of the classic fall sport football season injuries,” Kral said. 

The staff is ready to treat those injuries with X-ray casting, fracture alignment and concussion management, she added.

Besides treating children quickly, one of the important functions of the facility is keeping kids with minor injuries and illnesses out of emergency rooms.

“It gives kids quicker care (than at the ER) for those more traumatic big injuries. Then, they’re not stuck waiting for hours while like simple fractures take up those limited rooms that they have downtown. And so it gives everybody quicker, better care,” Kral said. 

For those that aren’t sure if their kid’s injury or illness qualifies for treatment at the facility, Children’s Mercy has a chart detailing where they should go, as well as a 24/7 Nurse Advice Line at Call 816-234-3188.

“If they walk in and it’s not something we can take care of here at Express Care or Ortho Injury, then we’re going to make sure that they have the resources to get to where they need to go to,” Locascio said.