It’s 2 o’clock in the morning and your child is spiking a fever, or you wake up in the middle of the night with a sharp pain in your side. You can’t plan what time you get sick, so what do you do? Whenever illness strikes or you need medical advice, we are just a phone call away.
24/7 Telephone Medical Advice
Did you know that Harvard Vanguard offers telephone medical advice for adults and children 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Well, we do! All you have to do is call your doctor’s office. After regular office hours, phones are answered by a team of Harvard Vanguard medical staff – physician assistants and nurse practitioners – who can access your or your child’s electronic medical record and provide medical advice and information by phone.
If necessary, our staff can consult an on-call Harvard Vanguard physician, schedule a next-day appointment with your doctor’s office, or advise you to visit an emergency room. If it’s a holiday or a weekend, they can also schedule you for a weekend/holiday urgent care appointment at one of our practices that provide urgent care.
Please note: If you think you or your child are experiencing a life-threatening emergency, you should always call 911 or your local emergency number immediately. If you do receive care at an emergency room, please call your primary care physician’s office so we can follow up on your care.
Weekday Urgent Care
If you’re not feeling well and need a same-day urgent care appointment on a weekday, call your Harvard Vanguard doctor’s office first to see if there is an available appointment time which is convenient for you to be seen by your usual care team. If not, all Harvard Vanguard patients have the option of scheduling an urgent care appointment directly at our Kenmore (Boston) or Somerville practice locations – they offer the following weekday urgent care hours:
- Kenmore – Mon – Fri, 8:00am – 8:00pm – (617) 421-1112
- Somerville – Mon – Fri, 10:00am – 6:00pm – (617) 629-6032
Weekends and holidays
Harvard Vanguard’s Urgent Care department is focused on providing complete care to patients with acute illnesses or injuries that require prompt attention but do not pose an immediate serious health threat or require an emergency room visit. Adult and pediatric weekend and holiday urgent care is available by appointment to any Harvard Vanguard patient at 6 of our practice locations: Braintree, Chelmsford, Kenmore, Peabody/Lynnfield, Somerville and Wellesley.
To make an urgent care appointment, call your doctor’s office. Even if your doctor’s office does not offer weekend/holiday urgent care hours, your call will be transferred to a Harvard Vanguard practice in that region that does.