When an AIDS patient needed emergency care, she went to Thomas Street Health Center first. Unsure of the quality of care she would receive, she was pleasantly surprised to find specialized care delivered timely, knowledgeably and efficiently.

Today, HIV/AIDS patients have an alternative to going to the emergency centers at Ben Taub or Lyndon B. Johnson general hospitals. Instead, they go to the newly created Thomas Street Health Center Urgent Care Center, also known as the “treatment room.”

The staff-driven Thomas Street program subscribes to the Harris County Hospital District's values of “We believe the patient is always first,” and “We respond to challenges rapidly with innovation and enthusiasm.”

The idea for the urgent care center was born in 2002 as a clinical alternative to emergency rooms when Dr. Gus Krucke, an Assistant Professor at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, came aboard. Six months after he started at Thomas Street, staff began preparing for the new area.

It is now a large eight-bed treatment space on the second floor.

Procedures range from removing sutures to giving nebulizer treatments to performing biopsies and lumbar punctures, among others. Krucke, who is dual board certified in internal and emergency medicine, oversees the provision of antibiotics, transfusions and chemotherapy.

“We're not an emergency center, but we can do most urgent-care procedures provided in the EC,” Krucke
said. “The urgent care center is great—it allows the EC to focus on real emergencies. Therefore, critical patients don't spend hours waiting in a busy EC, and it eases the burdens on the hospitals.”

Before Krucke worked in the center full time, patients were tended by nurses. But Krucke helped with procedures two to
three times a week.

“From the beginning, I knew he belonged in the treatment room,” said Mary Caprio, Professional Projects Coordinator. “Dr. Krucke thrives in this environment.”

The program was a huge step in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of patient care. Previously, patients were
screened by a nurse, and then waited for an available nurse practitioner and finally a doctor. Now, patients go through triage on the same floor, see a nurse practitioner and, in more serious cases, Krucke.

This new patient flow hastened care by rapidly identifying patients' needs, and significantly decreased trips to the EC, Caprio said.

Since opening, the urgent care center has relieved the EC of thousands of patients, and now treats 30 to 60 patients a day.

“It's definitely more efficient,” said Ed Rose, LVN. “Patients appreciate the immediate care and the lighthearted atmosphere that we have here.”

Because of the nature of patients' illnesses, staff believes patients are comforted knowing they are being treated by people who are familiar with them. The treatment room concept ensures patients receive care from experienced medical
professionals specializing in the disease's treatment and care, Krucke said.

Early in his career, Krucke saw how some physicians can distance themselves from patients. He set out to be different: one whom patients enjoy visiting.

“We take more of a humanistic/holistic view of caring for patients,” Krucke said. “There is a whole side of being a physician that is about connecting with patients. After all, patients deserve that recognition—they are the ones who come first and they crave that connection.”