On May 10th, eight-year-old Tucker Jones was running through the sprinkler when he suddenly slipped, lurched forward, and landed on his left arm. It was obvious to his parents, Dan Jones and Kati Halmos, that Tucker was in a lot of pain and had probably sustained a significant injury. It was Mother’s Day, so it was supposed to be a fun and relaxing family day. Instead, his parents found themselves visiting the Oly Ortho Urgent Care.
The first thing that Tucker’s parents did was contact his pediatrician, who recommended that they take him to a local emergency room. They went to a local emergency room and got seen by a doctor who confirmed that Tucker had broken his forearm. After getting a cast put on, Tucker and his family headed home.
But four hours later, Tucker was in a lot of pain again. Dan and Kati realized that he needed more medical care immediately. Tucker’s grandmother had recently had a hip replacement with Olympia Orthopaedic Associates, and his parents remembered that the clinic also offered weekend service through the Oly Ortho Urgent Clinic (Rapid Orthopaedic Care or ROC). It was getting late, but they loaded the family into the Subaru Outback and headed over.
Due to the pandemic, Tucker and his family were stopped at the main door to go over some basic screening questions. On that particular day, the staff member responsible for screening patients happened to be from the casting department. After finding out why they had come to the ROC, he immediately got to work on Tucker’s cast to make it more comfortable. He brought out a special tool, carefully cut the cast, and added some extra padding inside of it. With these adjustments made to get him through the night, Tucker’s family headed home with instructions to return the next day anytime.
When they returned the next day, there was a bit of a wait as the Oly Ortho Urgent Care was extra busy. The process for check-in’s looks a bit different these days, so once Tucker and his family got called in, a Physician Assistant immediately reviewed the x-rays that had been taken the day before at another facility. Tucker was given a more specific diagnosis of a buckle fracture. A better cast was applied by Tucker’s new-found friend in the Casting Department. After being offered any color of his choice, Tucker chose a red one as—he is a huge 49ers fan.
A few days later, Tucker’s family got a call for a follow-up appointment the following week. This time, they were seen at the Westside Clinic. Following the new pandemic protocols, they checked in from their car using their smartphone and then were called on their phone when their provider was ready.
“The whole thing was so efficient,” says Tucker’s mom. “As soon as we got into the building, they took us straight to the casting department to get the cast off and then someone took us straight to x-ray. It was super organized!”
Once the cast removal and x-rays were complete, Tucker briefly waited for one of the orthopaedic specialists to come in and review the results. The specialist explained that Tucker still had a buckle fracture, although the new x-ray showed some improvement. All that was left to do was re-cast the injury and give it time to heal. This time, Tucker chose a pink cast to pay homage to his twin sister’s favorite color. Tucker is now home, recovering nicely, and back to his usual tricks.
“I love the fact that you can walk in with a broken bone and not have to go to the emergency room,” says Tucker’s mother. “The ROC facility is brand new and it is very organized. I would definitely go back and I’ll recommend it to friends.”
Thank you, Tucker and family—we hope you’re all healed up soon!
Rapid Orthopaedic Care
Visit the Oly Ortho Urgent Care for any bone, joint, or muscle injury or condition that needs immediate or urgent attention, Olympia Orthopaedic Associates Rapid Orthopaedic Care is an urgent care clinic West Olympia, Washington.