Mercy Cedar Rapids opens dedicated clinic for respiratory illnesses

Starting March 27, Mercy is establishing a dedicated clinic to care for patients with respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19. Primary care and urgent care patients needing appointments or testing for respiratory illness – such as a cough, difficulty breathing, fever and runny nose – will be directed by their medical provider to the newly established respiratory illness-only site at MercyCare Hiawatha Urgent Care. The hours of this clinic are 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

The clinic is available for patients with a referral only and not walk-in appointments. Patients should still work through their primary care provider or an urgent care clinic for an initial video visit or assessment over the phone to determine the next steps for their care. Patients with severe illness or more complex cases should seek care at Mercy’s Emergency Department at (319) 398-6037.

Ancillary services such imaging and testing for COVID-19 are available at the new respiratory illness-only clinic. COVID-19 testing will be conducted with a physician order and in accordance with Iowa Department of Public Health guidelines.

This site is being established as a centralized location to address the increased number of patients with respiratory illness and to continue regular clinic availability at other locations. In addition, centralizing respiratory illness is another way to help conserve important protective equipment.  

Patients who seek care for non-respiratory symptoms at the MercyCare Hiawatha Urgent Care will instead be directed to nearby MercyCare North Urgent Care.

Patients who do not have a primary care provider should call Mercy’s Find-A-Doc line at (319) 369-4444 or go online to schedule an urgent care video visit.