OSF HealthCare to open urgent care clinic in Sycamore

SYCAMORE – A new OSF HealthCare urgent care facility is poised to open its doors to patients in Sycamore before the end of July, an OSF employee said Thursday.

Christina Hardee, director of operations for all on-call urgent clinics in the northern Illinois region for OSF, said Sycamore will be the newest clinic under her stewardship when it opens with a soft launch July 29.

“OSF on-call urgent cares, they’re a more modern-day urgent care. We try to kind of get geared toward those families on the go, to get them in and out in a timely manner without jeopardizing that quality of care,” Hardee said.

The Sycamore facility has been in the works since at least 2023, Hardee said. The brand-new building, situated near the Starbucks and Meijer grocer on South Peach Road in southwest Sycamore, will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Hardee said OSF hopes to have the facility open 12 hours a day every day of the year. The five-days-a-week schedule that begins when the facility has its soft opening eventually will morph into seven days if staffing allows for it, she said.

“I think that’s why we’re trialing the soft launch, just to make sure we are staffed up and appropriate to keep it open for the patients in the community,” Hardee said. “You know, staffing has been a challenge all over, but we’re hopeful.”

Media relations coordinator Colleen Reynolds said the facility will offer on-site prescription pickups for commonly prescribed medications. The urgent care will be equipped with an X-ray machine, and basic blood-testing services will be available inside the building, OSF representatives said.

Reynolds said those services are meant to make the urgent care experience a convenient one. To that end OSF also has virtual urgent care services that DeKalb County residents will be able to take part in.

“If this walk-in clinic is closed and it’s after hours, and somebody has a screaming baby in the middle of the night, which often happens, or if they’re going on vacation and they realize that they have something they need to take care of before they go, they can get on,” Reynolds said.

The OSF OnCall virtual urgent care services allow patients to text chat with a doctor for 15 minutes or to have a video call with a medical professional to determine their next steps of care.

“That is also an amazing option, and I really don’t think people know that’s available. And it has been a lifesaver for a lot of people,” Reynolds said.

For those who get in-person services, Reynolds said OSF tried to put as many conveniences as possible into the facility, including patient rooms with enough seating for a family of four or five and hot beverages in the lobby.

Hardee said OSF is a unique health care offering because of the business’s religious affiliation. It’s the second OSF facility in Sycamore after the nonprofit Catholic health system purchased Edward-Elmhurst Health’s Sycamore Family Practice, 954 W. State St., in October.

“We want people to experience God’s love,” Hardee said. “We want them to have a great experience every time they come to us.”