By William Scott

Correspondent

A new Now Care Urgent Care facility at 3069 Godwin Blvd. is designed to serve patients with acute care needs such as sick visits, lacerations, strains, and muscle and skeletal injuries without the patient needing to go to an emergency room.

The facility is part of Bayview Physicians Group, whose executives said recently that they had noticed urgent care was lacking in Suffolk and hope the new facility will help fill the need.

A local group of family practice physicians that had been located nearby, Lakeview Medical Center, has also moved into the new building.

“We hope that the greater visibility and higher accessibility will help our relationship (with the community) grow exponentially,” said Tony C. Cetrone, president of Bayview Physicians Group.

Now Care Urgent Care is open every day from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eight clinicians operate at the facility, along with two nurse practitioners and a hospitalist, according to Cetrone. Care is prioritized depending on the level and immediacy of patients’ medical needs.

The facility is also designed to meet occupational medical needs, such as providing physical examinations and certification examinations, treating work-related injuries and testing for drugs, Cetrone said.

The process is secure, private and individualized. Confidential electronic databases that can be accessed by clients are used to guarantee privacy and speed up the notification process.

Now Care Medical Care has existed since 1981 and has five locations in Suffolk, Norfolk and Virginia Beach, according to the company’s website.

“The spirit of supporting the doctor-patient relationship sets this facility apart,” Cetrone said. “Here, we think we have the doctors and the staff that represent that ethic very well.”

The other half of the new building houses Lakeview Medical Center, which provides primary care. Bayview Physicians Group acquired Lakeview earlier this year. Bayview has been in family practice since 1991 and employs 200 doctors. Lakeview has served Suffolk since 1906.

“We were very excited at the prospect and proud to associate with Lakeview,” Cetrone said. “For years Lakeview represented a major resource for health care in this community. It is our mutual feeling that our working together would be synergistic and that we could not only grow this services but enhance the services.”

Now Care’s new facility is intended to treat patients with “urgent” conditions, as opposed to those with severe medical emergencies such as chest pains, breathing difficulty, trauma, sudden loss of vision and severe bleeding. Such patients are still encouraged to seek an emergency care facility rather than urgent care.