It's the perfect use of a vacant building, and in a good location
It's been a long time coming. Eleven years after Saint Louise Regional Hospital closed in Morgan Hill, the DePaul Urgent Care Center opened Feb. 1 just off Cochrane Road, across the street from the Target shopping center.
It provides emergency-trained staff to see cases that are not life threatening, according to Saint Louise Regional Hospital spokeswoman Jasmine Nguyen.
It's the perfect use of a vacant building. It will be open when regular doctors' offices are closed, thus minimizing the need for patients who become sick and are unable to see a doctor until after work, or suffer minor injuries on the weekends to travel farther for treatment of minor illnesses and pain.
Important service will be available nights and weekends
The DePaul Urgent Care Center will be open from 3 to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
"This is a very important new service to the citizens of Morgan Hill," Planning Commissioner and Morgan Hill Community Health Foundation board member Joe Mueller said. "It will have opening times that are off primary doctor's hours. Now evening and weekend medical services will be available to the community for the first time in seven or eight years."
Next step: Bring a hospital back to Morgan Hill
Kudos to those who worked to return such a facility to Morgan Hill.
Shortly after the hospital moved south, an independently owned urgent care on Tennant Avenue closed, leaving Morgan Hill without urgent or emergency care at all. Since that time, the hospital and the foundation have worked on opening a new facility.
It's surely a step in the right direction. Getting a complete hospital in Morgan Hill is the next step.
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