HUNTSVILLE – Dr. Nemil Shah and his wife Heather Howard celebrated the opening of their third ApproXie Urgent Care clinic with an open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony in the Publix Shopping Center at Hays Farm this week.
According to Shah, the couple took their last $5,000 from savings five years ago, and opened ApproXie Urgent Care on Wall Triana/Sullivan Street in Madison. Since then, they’ve opened a second location – a mile-and-a-half south of I-565 to serve the Triana community.
The opening of the location at Hays Farm is an exciting expansion, Shah said, on what they started as a “mom and pop” clinic with just the two of them working 12-hour shifts, seven days a week to build a patient base.
“Our brand has really grown the past 5 years,” Shah said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Among those he thanked was Tyce Hudson, project director at Freedom Real Estate. Hudson put together a consulting team to secure the location and manage the day-to-day build-out.
“Heather designed the interior to make it comfortable and beautiful, but it is not just beautiful it is efficient and functional with our goal to always get patients in and out within 45 minutes.”
The Hays Farm location has seven examination rooms and an X-ray with a full gamut of testing equipment and procedures onsite.
Shah said they are the perfect alternative for people who are in-between with a regular doctor or who need to get in to see a doctor quickly for an immediate need.
“We tease our patients that you can cheat on your doctor with us, but we can’t marry you,” Shah said.
Howard said she has been asked what makes ApproXie so special.
“I think if you read our reviews at either location, it’s how fast we are, and that is true because after five years, we have really determined the flow of our clinic,” she said. “From patient staffing to the way we check patients in, triaging, taking them through any procedures or treatment, all the way through check-out. We feel we have it down to a tee at this point.”
Shah said it did not take them long to realize it doesn’t take a lot of effort to make the customer journey and patient experience better.
“It’s just about caring, making sure you make the patient feel special, and standardizing the processes so you can spend more time with each patient,” he said.
Dr. Elena Allman has also joined the staff. She has worked at the Madison location for more than a year and worked in urgent care for 18 years. When ApproXie expressed interest in opening a third location, she was the one who recommended Hays Farm.
“I was building a house at Hays Farm and when I mentioned it, they were all in,” said Allman. “I am a family practitioner, but I really enjoy the fast pace of urgent care. It will be great to live and work so close by.”
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