After Hours

Call 911
A true emergency is when you believe a severe injury or illness is threatening your child's life or may cause permanent harm. This may include, but is not limited to, a child who is unresponsive or not normally responsive, is having very labored breathing, or has had a serious injury. If you believe your child is experiencing a life-threatening emergency, call 911 immediately.

Call the Office
Please call the office during regular business hours to schedule well-child visits or same-day sick appointments, with questions about prescription refills, insurance or billing issues, or questions for your child's regular physician about long-term concerns such as developmental milestones or school problems.

Things to know about After Hours Care
One of our experienced pediatric nurses is on on call with one of our physicians 24/7 whenever the offices are closed. If you need advice about how to care for an illness, whether your child needs to be taken to an emergency department or urgent care facility or can wait for an appointment the next day, or help understanding how to administer over-the-counter or prescription medication, please call our after-hours nurse triage line. During busy times, you may reach a recording at the nurse Triage Line if our nurse is speaking to another parent. She will return your call as soon as possible. Please keep your line free during this time - stay off the phone, and turn off call blocking. Please have a pencil and paper and your child's temperature available.

Our phone nurses follow specific guidelines for Northwest Pediatrics and the physicians supervise the advice they give. A doctor is always on call, should physician input be necessary. If you feel you need to have your child seen after hours in an Emergency Department or urgent care facility, it is best to contact our triage nurse first. We feel strongly that children require pediatric specialty care, and depending on your child's injury or illness, specific specialty care may be needed. We want to direct you to the hospital best equipped to care for your child, because different facilities have varying abilities to care for certain clinical situations. We will direct you to the proper facility, which enables us to communicate with the ER physician and arrange for proper evaluation, treatment, and follow-up.

If you have suggestions to improve our after-hours phone service, please share them with your provider.