MinuteClinic opens in Coffman Union

U employees can get treatment and shots without an appointment

Certified nurse practitioner Sheryl Bartholow is staffing the new MinuteClinic in Coffman Union.

Photo by Patrick O'Leary

By Gayla Marty

From Brief, October 27, 2004; updated February 24, 2006

A nurse is in Coffman, and she's waiting for you.

Sheryl Bartholow's office is a bright, reconstituted storage area at the back of the commuter lounge, with windows overlooking the Basic Sciences and Biomedical Building. You can spot it by the big red and light blue signs.

"It's good to be back on campus, and the hours are great!" says Bartholow, who earned her nursing degrees at the U. She arrived Monday with 19 years of experience, many of them in urgent care and family practice.

Bartholow now works for MinuteClinic, which opened a new site at the U of M-Twin Cities October 25. It's the 14th MinuteClinic in the Twin Cities, joining sites at Target stories, Cub Foods, and the Carlson Center office park in Minnetonka.

MinuteClinic-Coffman is designed for U faculty, staff, their dependents, graduate assistants, students, and the general public. Duluth and greater Minnesota UPlan members are eligible for services at MinuteClinic locations when they are in the Twin Cities.

What's available?

Treatments
Strep throat
Ear infection
Bronchitis
Pink eye and styes
Sinus infection
Cold sores
Flu
Mono
Poison ivy
Impetigo
Ringworm
Seasonal allergies
Wart removal
Deer tick bites
Female bladder infection

Screenings
Pregnancy

Vaccines

School and college vaccines including hepatitis B, MMR (measles, mumps, rubella), menomune (meningococcal), and Td (tetanus, diphtheria)

Seasonal vaccines including flu (if available) and pneumonia

Boynton Health Service remains the main health care provider on campus for students. U students and graduate assistants should contact the Student Health Benefits office, 612-624-0627, for information on coverage through MinuteClinic.

Open for cold season

MinuteClinic-Coffman will be open "for cold season"--October through April, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. It will be closed on U employee holidays.

No appointments are necessary. Visits take about 15 minutes.

Currently, the UPlan copayment for treatments and screenings is $5 for members of HealthPartners Classic, Patient Choice, and Preferred One. MinuteClinic will submit claims for members of Definity Health. There is no copayment for vaccines.

On the go

On Bartholow's first day, she talked to about 20 people; most just stopped in to ask questions. By the end of Tuesday, she expected to have all her vaccines.

Some of the differences between the campus MinuteClinic and most other locations will be seeing people during their work day instead of before or after work, "and there'll be fewer kids," she says.

She plans to take late, short lunch breaks and will put out a sign anytime she has to be away from the desk briefly.

For more information about MinuteClinic-Coffman, see www.umn.edu/ohr/eb/uplan/minuteclinic.htm or e-mail benefits@umn.edu.