CityMD is an urgent care facility that cares for acute, non-serious injuries. (Richard Park/Flickr)
By Maliha Gul
CityMD, a new urgent care clinic, will soon open its doors at its newest location on 388 East Fordham Road. This location, one block away from the university’s Walsh Library entrance, sits at the end of the Fordham Road shopping district.
“This is the third location for CityMD in the Bronx and the only urgent care facility on East Fordham Road,” said Brad Cohen, the senior director of the firm who worked out a 15-year lease for CityMD, in a press release. “This site is easily accessible, located on a major commercial corridor next to Fordham University and in the midst of a vibrant residential community full of college students and families in need of health services.”
CityMD will take Aetna Student Health, according to Abbie Parker, social strategist and digital manager for CityMD.
Urgent care is a field of medical care that deals with acute but non-serious medical problems. Different from the emergency room, urgent care clinics are outpatient sites that aim to provide care to patients quickly and efficiently, while also allowing patients to skip the long waits of the emergency room. These centers do not carry out surgeries, treat critically ill patients or engage in the treatment of chronic illnesses. Most visits at urgent care centers like CityMD end in a prescription, a referral to a specialist, emergency room or hospital for inpatient services.
At Lincoln Center, some have already frequented CityMD as one of the 17 Manhattan locations of the urgent care chain is two blocks from the Manhattan campus. Some students at Lincoln Center and at Rose Hill, report being inclined to towards visiting Fordham’s Health Centers beore a CityMD.
“The first choice, if it’s available, is always the health center,” Shirley Yang, a first year graduate student at Lincoln Center, told The Fordham Ram. “Because it’s on campus so I think it’s more convenient for me.”
A Rose Hill student agreed. “I probably would just go to the Health Center,” said Alivia Tiffani, FCRH ’17, said to The Ram. “If that wasn’t working then I would see what my other options were,” she said. “It depends on how serious the issue was, if it was something not so serious then it would be CityMD, or else I would just go to the hospital.”
Other students said they would ask friends and family for advice before deciding where to go to first.
“I would go to the health center because it’s closer,” said Dominic Fogarasi, FCRH ’17, noting that the severity of his sickness and how much it would cost him would affect his decision.
Although CityMD does not accept straight Medicaid, it accepts a variety of health insurance, including managed Medicaid plans, according to Parker.
The clinic will open on September 26. Its hours will be 8 a.m.- 8 p.m. Monday to Friday and 9 a.m.- 6 p.m. Saturday to Sunday.
CityMD’s other Bronx locations include one at Riverdale, near Manhattan College, and another in Baychester.
As the third largest shopping center in the city with access to major subway lines, bus lines and the patronage of many Bronxites, East Fordham Road is the newest location for CityMD who has opened 35 locations in New York City.
This article has been updated to include comment from the social strategist and digital manager of CityMD.
