Practice now has 12 NC locations
ST. PAULS — KidzCare Pediatrics, a medical practice with offices across the state, has opened its latest clinic in St. Pauls.
Dr. Ashok Jain, the physician who oversees the practice, said there was a need for a pediatric clinic in St. Pauls. Jain operates 11 other pediatric clinics, in Fayetteville, Charlotte, Franklin, Hope Mills, Lillington, Sanford and Spring Lake.
“When I opened my first clinic in Hope Mills in 2003, we had people coming from here, Lumberton and Pembroke and as far away as Bladen County,” Jain said. “Our biggest focus is access to care. People who don’t have access to good primary providers end up in the emergency room and end up with higher costs.”
Treating an ear infection at KidzCare would typically run about $75, and at an urgent care center, about $250.
“If you end up going to an emergency room for the same thing, it will cost you about $1,500,” Jain said.
The clinic, which opened on April 10, has six examination rooms, two triage areas and four employees. Doctors at KidzCare Pediatrics are either board certified or board eligible in pediatrics.
“The community has been so receptive,” said Michelle Harris, who serves as office manager. “Everyone that comes in talks about the need for a practice like this. The lengths that these parents were driving with sick children was very surprising. Now we are just around the corner.”
The clinic treats children from birth to age 18 with asthma, complex and chronic illness, ADHD, ADD, ODD, conduct disorder and special needs. KidzCare Pediatrics also provides routine child care, immunizations and annual physicals for sports and schools.
“Really any child and any need, we will meet it,” Harris said.
According to Jain, KidzCare patients have electronic access to their medical records and information. Jain said the clinic also provides same-day access to care.
“If a child is sick, they need to be seen today,” he said.
Jain has worked in pediatrics since 1993 and has served as chief resident in pediatrics at Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago and as a Fellow in Pediatric Cardiology at Northwestern University-Children’s Memorial Hospital.
Before opening his first pediatric practice, Hope Mills Pediatrics, Jain provided health care services to under-served children in Indiana and North Carolina.
“We plan to be in St. Pauls forever,” he said. “I started my Hope Mills practice with five patients and last year our clinics treated about 68,000 patients. All we had to do was plant the seed.”
KidzCare Pediatrics, located at 216A E. Broad St., is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and can be reached at 910-241-3136.
