New Found Express Care to provide quick medical care, away from hospital

NEW HAMPTON — Tammie Carignan has been a regional practice manager at clinics across the Lakes Region. After hearing about the need for more healthcare facilities for non-emergency situations, she decided to start one of her own.

Carignan is owner of New Found Express Care, located on Route 104, just off Exit 23 on Interstate 93. Over the last month, she has been going through the final hoops, and leaping over the last hurdles.

Carignan, in an interview on Sept. 1, said they were in the process of getting their licensing and compliance squared away. She said they'd had a licensing inspection the previous day, which went well, and she was waiting for it to be written up.

Carignan said Wednesday the new express care center is ready to go, and she expects the facility to be open in a month or less.

“We just got our licensing from the state,” Carignan said. “We think we will do a soft opening for employers, schools, those things, relatively soon.”

What New Found will offer

New Found Express Care will offer same-day services for people with minor injuries, acute illnesses, occupational health issues, and skin wounds. They will also offer exams needed for state jobs, and there will be outside lab draws and in-house point of care testing for COVID-19, strep throat, the flu, pregnancy and more.

“We will be doing the tetanus, Tdap and PPD for vaccines, but not doing the normal children’s vaccine, because it’s not covered by insurance,” Carignan said.

Tdap is a vaccine to prevent tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis, and PPD, which stands for purified protein derivative, is a skin test to diagnose tuberculosis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Currently, the staff includes Carignan, a nurse practitioner, and a registered nurse.

“We are fully staffed,” she said. “I had a lot of connections. I had been the regional manager for a couple clinics in the Lakes Region. I was liked as their manager, so they asked if they could come along with me.”

Depending on demand, Carignan said it is not outside the realm of possibility her staff could grow.

“It will all be based on the patient volume, but I anticipate opening with myself, the provider, and a nurse,” Carignan said. “Then, we’ll go from there. I will hire as many providers as we need to, and as many clinical staff as we need to.”

Carignan wants to ensure New Found Express Care benefits the community, which includes having adequate staff to avoid long wait times. She warned waiting is always a possibility. An example, she said, if someone with heart trouble comes in, they will need to be monitored, and attention will be directed to them, based on the severity of the ailment.

However, she said the main benefit of the clinic is to provide a spot for people to go with ailments less serious in nature.

“We want to make sure we are able to take care of the patients that come in in a relatively short period of time,” Carignan said. “To get them in and out and on with the rest of their day, and back to feeling better.”

She said express care is also there to help hospitals, saying they are in business to take care of people who don’t necessarily require an emergency room. This could be someone with minor injuries from a fall or a sickness, rather than someone with broken bones or a life-threatening condition.

“That way, the hospital can take care of more critical patients,” Carignan said. “Hospitals are for urgent emergencies, and we are there to take care of the things less urgent, to free up emergency rooms.”

Preparing for patients

Carignan is a Franklin resident who has worked all over. Thinkings the work was rewarding, she decided to open a clinic herself. Carignan began the process in February, including applying for a name, and other steps which take time. Carignan applied for a state license at the end of June, with state inspections following. She said the entire process has been long, but seamless.

“The state has been wonderful and the inspectors are great,” Carignan said, adding she was working with representatives from the Department of Health and Human Services. “They’ll answer any questions and do anything you need, and will help you through. Everybody has been very helpful and nice to deal with.”

After talking to the New Hampton health inspector, as well as the fire chief, she realized how big of a need there is for healthcare in the area.

“Everybody is really excited that we are moving in,” Carignan said. “It is nice to be able to just help the community out, and give back to the community.”

Carignan said she's already had people calling her on her cellphone, wondering about the new clinic, showing the need. Being a small community, people have heard about New Found Express Care coming to town.

While she assumes word of mouth is at play, some may know because she went before the New Hampton planning and zoning boards in May. She praised the town, saying everyone was “wonderful to work with.”

“They made things easy, and are very helpful.”

With Route 104 being a major connecting point to the Lakes Region from the highway, she said it is hard to gauge what the demand will be. She recognizes it's in a high-traffic area, especially with tourists. She expects about 30 patients per day, but that remains to be seen.

Carignan said electronic medical records are going live on Oct. 1. She didn’t have an exact opening date, but knows it is coming soon. She urged people to check the website, which will have information about opening.

New Found Express Care can be reached at 603-744-0588, and newfoundexpresscare.com.