Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Hometown Urgent Care opened Monday in Harlan, offering a new medical service to locals who may not be able to afford a costly visit to the emergency room. 

Patty Coldiron, owner and operator of Hometown Urgent Care, opened her own business as a way to bring focused care to locals like herself. 

Coldiron first began nursing in 1995 as a CNA before being laid off in 1999. 

Going back to school, she became an LPN in 2001 and graduated from Southeast Community & Technical College in 2003 with an Associates in Nursing. 

Coldiron worked as an RN on the Med Surge unit and Home Health, and later graduated from Frontier Nursing University in 2015. 

“After graduating as a nurse practitioner, I have solely worked in urgent care,” Coldiron said, noting her time spent in emergency rooms and urgent care in Richmond. “I love being an APRN and providing care to my community.”

Coldiron said she grew tired of traveling to Richmond for work and longed for her own business in Harlan County, where she could serve the local community she has grown to love and cherish. 

Having approached Katie Pierce, a fellow coworker in Richmond, about helping her open Hometown Urgent Care, the two embarked on their journey in September 2020.

Coldiron said unlike primary care facilities like MCHC, where patients make appointments and physicians help manage their health, patients will be able to walk into her urgent care facility and be treated in an “in and out” method. 

Pierce said it also helps those who are unable to get in to see their primary care physician, who may be booked with appointments the same day. Hometown Urgent Care now provides a second option for those who want to skip the waiting lines to receive the care they need. 

“That’s why an urgent care is needed, especially in a small town, for when that primary doctor is booked,” Pierce said. “You know, if you’re just not feeling well, but you have to go to work that day. We’re here after hours too.”

Coldiron said the goal for patients who seek care at Hometown Urgent Care is to be in and out in roughly 30 minutes, unless a more lengthy visit is needed, like for a laceration or broken bone. 

Hometown Urgent Care offers services and treatments for laceration repair, COVID-19 testing, rashes, sports/school/work physicals, ear irrigation, allergic reactions, weight loss, asthma, cuts and burns, infections, STD testing and more. 

Medicare, Medicaid, Humana, Aetna, Humana Medicare, Anthem Medicare, Anthem/BCBS (all forms), United Mine Workers, Railroad Medicare, United Healthcare and Cigna are also accepted insurances for care. Self-pay options are also available. 

Hometown Urgent Care is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and is located at 1540 S. Hwy 421 in Harlan. For more information, call 606-573-9939 or find them on Facebook.