Is There a Doctor in the House?
Let me preface this by saying that this is NOT a sponsored post. Nobody paid me or gave me any free services to write my opinions - I just found something awesome and wanted to tell somebody about it. So, the Internet. Because I have a blog, that's why.
Anyway.
My first-grader, Coby, mentioned before school last week that his throat was a little bit sore. By the end of the school day, the nurse called for me to come pick him up because he was running a fever. So I brought him home, put him on the couch, gave him some ibuprofen and some warm tea with lemon and honey, and figured he had a cold.
But by seven o'clock that night, he was barfing - he couldn't hold anything down, not even water. I looked at his throat, and it was swollen and riddled with tiny, angry-looking red dots. His fever was on the rise. The poor kid was totally miserable. We just moved here, he has no pediatrician yet, and the nearest urgent care facility was about to close. I had to do something for him. There's always the emergency room, but the last thing I wanted to do (for me OR him) was drag my poor, feverish-yet-shivering, puking-every-ten-minutes kid to the hospital where we'd inevitably wait for hours to be seen. (Not to mention be exposed to everybody else's yuckity germs.)
So out of desperation, I got on my phone and Googled something random like "online doctor visit." I had zero idea whether anything like that actually existed - so I was surprised when my search resulted in me finding something called Amwell.
Now, let me be the first to say that I was totally skeptical. I mean, I've crossed over to the world of ordering pizzas online and am pretty impressed with that technology. But a real, legit doctor visit?
Still, what did I have to lose? My kid was suffering. So I downloaded the app. (I have an iPhone, but I believe it's also available on Android; you can also do it via their website.)
It took me less than ten minutes to provide my personal info and get set up in their system - and that included adding all ten gazillion (okay, four) of my children. The ease of use didn't really help with my skepticism, but I pressed on.
As you can see from this lovely screenshot I took today (and yes I am the type of person who lets her phone battery run down to ten percent - don't judge), they offer a bunch of services. TWENTY FOUR HOURS A DAY. So no matter what time your kid starts barfing/coughing/generally waking you up from an otherwise-pleasant sleep, you can see a doctor without even putting a bra on.
Anyway, the app lets you know which doctors are available and how many patients are waiting to be seen. In order to help you choose, you can tap on each doctor and their bio comes up - including not only personal details about them, but other things like languages spoken, specialties, education, and how long they've been practicing medicine.
Once you've chosen your preferred physician and are waiting in the queue, you get the opportunity to tell them a little bit about your problem - it's just like sending a text. I even snapped a photo of Coby's poor horrible-looking throat and included it so the doctor could see. Then you can choose your preferred pharmacy. It even gives you a map so you can see which ones are closest to you.
With three patients ahead of us, we waited for about forty minutes. But I didn't care because number one, I was sitting on my couch watching my TV in my pajamas, and number two, that is SUBSTANTIALLY less time than I would have spent at an E.R. or urgent care facility. And Coby could continue his throw-up-and-fall-asleep cycle in ... well, I don't wanna say peace, but you know.
When we finally saw the doctor, I was very impressed - it was a live video chat, pretty much just like Face Time. Dr. Myers was warm and friendly and knowledgeable, and I felt like she was thorough in her questions and explanations. She looked at the photo of Coby's throat and said she had never seen such a textbook case of strep, even finding a similar photo on the Internet to show me how classic it was. She prescribed him an anti-nausea medication and an antibiotic, and both were called into my local pharmacy right away. (I couldn't pick it up until the next morning, but that's only because we have moved to a town where there doesn't seem to be a 24-hour ANYTHING.)
The best part was, it only cost $49 - and they work with a lot of insurance companies, so it may cost even less. (In contrast, my mom went to an urgent care clinic a few weeks ago and her bill was over $200.) Not only that, but the next day I got an email from Amwell with a coupon code for a FREE visit because we had to wait so long. And I was like, "Whaaaaat?" because I thought our wait time was very reasonable, and besides - COUCH AND PAJAMAS. But hey, you guys know I'm cheap, so I'm all over that coupon code like Axe body spray on a teenage boy.
Like I said - this isn't a sponsored post in any way, shape, or form. Nobody from Amwell was like, "Hey Rita, we love your blog, we'll pay you to write about it." (In fact, I hope their PR people are not embarrassed now that they're associated with such a prodigious teller of poop stories.) I just stumbled upon this amazing bit of technology and felt like sharing it with y'all because I had a good experience and thought it was awesome.
Not as awesome as not being sick in the first place, but hey. Sick happens. I'm just glad I don't have to put a bra on when it does.
Anyway.
My first-grader, Coby, mentioned before school last week that his throat was a little bit sore. By the end of the school day, the nurse called for me to come pick him up because he was running a fever. So I brought him home, put him on the couch, gave him some ibuprofen and some warm tea with lemon and honey, and figured he had a cold.
But by seven o'clock that night, he was barfing - he couldn't hold anything down, not even water. I looked at his throat, and it was swollen and riddled with tiny, angry-looking red dots. His fever was on the rise. The poor kid was totally miserable. We just moved here, he has no pediatrician yet, and the nearest urgent care facility was about to close. I had to do something for him. There's always the emergency room, but the last thing I wanted to do (for me OR him) was drag my poor, feverish-yet-shivering, puking-every-ten-minutes kid to the hospital where we'd inevitably wait for hours to be seen. (Not to mention be exposed to everybody else's yuckity germs.)
So out of desperation, I got on my phone and Googled something random like "online doctor visit." I had zero idea whether anything like that actually existed - so I was surprised when my search resulted in me finding something called Amwell.
Now, let me be the first to say that I was totally skeptical. I mean, I've crossed over to the world of ordering pizzas online and am pretty impressed with that technology. But a real, legit doctor visit?
Still, what did I have to lose? My kid was suffering. So I downloaded the app. (I have an iPhone, but I believe it's also available on Android; you can also do it via their website.)
It took me less than ten minutes to provide my personal info and get set up in their system - and that included adding all ten gazillion (okay, four) of my children. The ease of use didn't really help with my skepticism, but I pressed on.
As you can see from this lovely screenshot I took today (and yes I am the type of person who lets her phone battery run down to ten percent - don't judge), they offer a bunch of services. TWENTY FOUR HOURS A DAY. So no matter what time your kid starts barfing/coughing/generally waking you up from an otherwise-pleasant sleep, you can see a doctor without even putting a bra on.
Anyway, the app lets you know which doctors are available and how many patients are waiting to be seen. In order to help you choose, you can tap on each doctor and their bio comes up - including not only personal details about them, but other things like languages spoken, specialties, education, and how long they've been practicing medicine.
Once you've chosen your preferred physician and are waiting in the queue, you get the opportunity to tell them a little bit about your problem - it's just like sending a text. I even snapped a photo of Coby's poor horrible-looking throat and included it so the doctor could see. Then you can choose your preferred pharmacy. It even gives you a map so you can see which ones are closest to you.
With three patients ahead of us, we waited for about forty minutes. But I didn't care because number one, I was sitting on my couch watching my TV in my pajamas, and number two, that is SUBSTANTIALLY less time than I would have spent at an E.R. or urgent care facility. And Coby could continue his throw-up-and-fall-asleep cycle in ... well, I don't wanna say peace, but you know.
When we finally saw the doctor, I was very impressed - it was a live video chat, pretty much just like Face Time. Dr. Myers was warm and friendly and knowledgeable, and I felt like she was thorough in her questions and explanations. She looked at the photo of Coby's throat and said she had never seen such a textbook case of strep, even finding a similar photo on the Internet to show me how classic it was. She prescribed him an anti-nausea medication and an antibiotic, and both were called into my local pharmacy right away. (I couldn't pick it up until the next morning, but that's only because we have moved to a town where there doesn't seem to be a 24-hour ANYTHING.)
The best part was, it only cost $49 - and they work with a lot of insurance companies, so it may cost even less. (In contrast, my mom went to an urgent care clinic a few weeks ago and her bill was over $200.) Not only that, but the next day I got an email from Amwell with a coupon code for a FREE visit because we had to wait so long. And I was like, "Whaaaaat?" because I thought our wait time was very reasonable, and besides - COUCH AND PAJAMAS. But hey, you guys know I'm cheap, so I'm all over that coupon code like Axe body spray on a teenage boy.
Like I said - this isn't a sponsored post in any way, shape, or form. Nobody from Amwell was like, "Hey Rita, we love your blog, we'll pay you to write about it." (In fact, I hope their PR people are not embarrassed now that they're associated with such a prodigious teller of poop stories.) I just stumbled upon this amazing bit of technology and felt like sharing it with y'all because I had a good experience and thought it was awesome.
Not as awesome as not being sick in the first place, but hey. Sick happens. I'm just glad I don't have to put a bra on when it does.
Wow. Really great to know. What an awesome experience. I may even one day jump on this bandwagon because of your recommendation :P
ReplyDeleteWow!!! We live way out in BFE, and it's a $275 copay to just walk into the ER, so this might almost make me want to break down and get a cell phone. Almost.
ReplyDeleteOoh, you can do it on your computer, too! I am totally checking this out...thanks!
ReplyDeleteBummer that your son was sick. But glad to know about Amwell. There's also Doctor On Demand. It's all online also and they list their dr visit price as $40. I haven't used it but a dear friend did while out of town and said it was easy and awesome. So maybe a little price competition benefits us. ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rita! I absolutely had to share your post on my Facebook so that all of my friends & fam could know about this for their chillens! I hope Coby feels better soon!
ReplyDelete