Good First Impressions Can Turn New Neighbors into Loyal Patients

Whether they’re familiar with urgent care or not—and definitely if they’re not familiar with your urgent care operation—people may have a little anxiety about seeing a new medical facility move into their neighborhood. Yes, it’s always nice to have convenient access to healthcare, but how will traffic be affected? And exactly what type of patients are they going to attract, anyway? Making a good first impression will not only set minds at ease, but also increase the odds that the neighbors will become loyal patients. Lowcountry Urgent Care in South Carolina set the standard for this approach when opening its second location recently. As noted in a post on Walterborolive.com, the company had barely finished setting up shop when management started exploring ways to support the community. They opted to start a program to help local teachers who often have to dip into their own pockets to ensure their classrooms have all the resources they need. To get Lowcountry Urgent Care Giveback going, the company invited teachers to detail unmet needs in an email; each month, Lowcountry would select one teacher to receive a $100 gift card to help meet those needs. Given that the schools only provide $275 for each teacher to buy supplies for the entire year, the $100 award represents a big boost. The first recipient was an elementary school art teacher who used the money to buy colored pencils, markers, and crayons for his classes. After receiving 10 emails in the first 2 weeks, the program is picking up steam—which means more people are hearing the name Lowcountry Urgent Care in a positive tone.