Yarrawonga Health Supports the Community this Festive Season

As the year draws to a close and festive season celebrations with friends and family are in full swing, if things go wrong and you need to seek urgent medical attention, Yarrawonga Health (YH) can assist.

Yarrawonga Health Urgent Care Centre (UCC) is located at Entry 1 on Lynch St, Yarrawonga and provides our community with access to urgent but not life threating medical care. The Urgent Care Centre is supported by Advanced Practice nurses, the Duty Medical Officer (Doctor) and Expert Emergency Physicians contracted by My Emergency Doctor.

If you arrive at the Urgent Care Centre, you will be screened. Use the intercom located on the wall to let staff know that you are there. You will then be seen by a Nurse, who will then determine your medical needs. This Initial assessment is known as “triage.”

What is Triage?

When you arrive at the Urgent Care Centre, our Urgent Care Nurses will ask a series of questions and perform routine checks to assess your injury or illness to determine your medical needs. This assessment is known as triage. There are five triage categories defined by the Australian College of Emergency Medicine.

Triage Category 1 – Resuscitation

Triage Category 2 - Emergency

Triage Category 3 – Urgent

Triage Category 4 – semi-urgent

Triage Category 5 – Non-urgent

The nurse will then decide whether you are required to be seen by the doctor on duty, as this will depend on how urgent your condition is.

Like other public health services, all patients are seen in order of priority via the triage system and emergencies will be seen first. This could mean that if you or your family have presented with a semi-urgent or non-urgent problem, there may be extended waiting times for you to receive treatment during the current busy festive season. YH may also refer you to a friendly local medical clinic for care or follow up.

If you attend the Urgent Care Centre after hours, the nurse may connect you to My Emergency Doctor.

My Emergency Doctor is a video health service where the Urgent Care team connects patients to a specialist emergency doctor on duty via video call. All doctors working for the 24-hour service are Australian registered specialist emergency doctors are able to order diagnostic tests, write prescriptions, refer you to specialists or recommend you attend an emergency Department nearby.

YH COVID-19 Testing?

If you are feeling unwell or have any of the following symptoms please contact the friendly team at Yarrawonga Health on 57438111 option 0 to arrange a COVID test at the newly established drive-through clinic. If you are unable to attend the COVID clinic via car, please let the staff know for alternative arrangements.

• Cough
• Sore Throat
• Headache
• Fever
• Chills
• Loss of smell and taste

Remember, if you are suffering from a life threating illness please call 000 for assistance