Doctors urging patients to utilize Urgent Care Centers to help relieve Emergency Departments

VISALIA, Calif. (KFSN) — With emergency rooms across the Central Valley overwhelmed with patients, medical professionals are urging people to consider their options when something is not an emergency, and can be dealt with at a local urgent care.

“Some people go to the emergency room for minor things that they could come here for, and that just kind of clogs up our system,” explains Dr. Steve Carstens at Kaweah Health Urgent Care on Court Street in Visalia.

He says many providers at local urgent cares have experience in the Emergency Department, including himself.

“If you have lots of stuff going on, and then you have one sick person in there, because there’s so much else going on, it’s hard to pick up that one sick person, and that’s a problem,” says Dr. Carstens.

So far in December, the Kaweah Health Emergency Department has seen an average of more than 250 patients per day.

That is a slight drop from the record numbers in August, when they saw more than 280 patients daily.

Putting pressure on staff and impacting wait times.

Dr. Carstens mentions, “When that happens, when people get backed up, bad things happen, and so we try not to have that happen. That’s why we’re here, too.”

As flu season continues, doctors expect to see record numbers again but say the Emergency Department may sometimes be the best option.

“So if people have underlying medical problems like kidney transplant or some kind of transplant, severe diabetes, COPD, heart failure, cancer, they take immunosuppressives. They should go to the ER, especially if they’re short of breath,” urges Dr. Carstens.

Kaweah Health Urgent Cares are located at 1633 Court Street and 3600 W. Flagstaff Avenue, off Demaree in the Shannon Ranch area of Visalia. Both locations accept most insurances, and although wait times may vary, they are typically shorter than those in the Emergency Department.

The Court Street location is open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily and the Demaree location is open 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.

Each location will have limited hours through the holidays; those are listed below.

• Christmas Eve – Open until 5:00 p.m.

• Christmas Day – Open until 5:00 p.m.

• New Year’s Eve – Open until 5:00 p.m.

• New Year’s Day 2026 – OPEN

• Christmas Eve – Open until 12:00 p.m.

• New Year’s Eve – Open until 12:00 p.m.

• New Year’s Day 2026 – CLOSED

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