ST. LOUIS, MO (KMOX) - "Every morning, even before we open our doors, every spot is completely full."
Ashley Williams, Vice President of Operations, Total Access Urgent Care, describes the daily waitlist. Roughly 2,000 patients a day are walking through the doors of TAUC's locations. More than half are there for COVID-19 testing.
The demand is well above what the clinics saw before the pandemic. Williams says it hasn't let up in nine months and is stretching staff thin.
"We could easily hire an additional 125 clinical techs right now and be in a better position," explains Williams. "We've had to close four locations due to not having enough staffing."
Hiring and training staff will take time. Total Access is working with local universities to recruit and is launching its own EMT school this fall with the goal of increasing the number of trained medical staff in the region.
To ease the strain on it's main urgent care clinics, TAUC has opened a site in Kirkwood to focus solely on asymptomatic COVID testing.
"It helps people that are traveling. It helps people that maybe need clearance for a surgery. A lot of times if you're getting surgery they want to make sure you don't have COVID, so will want a 48 hour window COVID test. Or concerts or other places that are wanting that test right before," Williams says.
She says the company is considering opening more asymptomatic testing sites.
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