Many parents can probably relate to Christina Taylor’s situation. In December 2017, 10-year-old Camden had been running a low-grade fever for a few days, when suddenly it spiked to 104 degrees late at night.
Besides his fever, Camden had no other symptoms – no sore throat, cough, rash or earache.
“Unfortunately, Camden has a tendency to run really high fevers,” Christina said. “At that point, the urgent cares and the OSF Medical Group – Pediatric After Hours clinic were closed, and I really didn’t want to go to the emergency room and risk him getting something else.”
Saved by an email
Two days prior, Christina received an email about OSF OnCall – an around-the-clock online urgent care service.
Christina decided to give it a try. She went to the OSF OnCall website, entered in Camden’s information and within five minutes, Christina was talking to a provider via Facetime.
The OSF OnCall provider asked Christina to take Camden’s temperature, and the provider saw that it was registering very high.
“I had been alternating giving Camden ibuprofen and acetaminophen,” Christina said. “I told the provider how much of each I was giving him, and she said I could actually give Camden a little bit more of the ibuprofen according to his weight and age. I think that really helped.”
A sigh of relief
Because Camden had no other symptoms, the provider said to give him the new dosage of ibuprofen when it was time for it. Then, the provider told Christina that if the fever didn’t go down within a few hours to take him to the ER to get him checked out. Fortunately, the fever went down.
“The provider suggested I take him to his primary care provider at OSF Medical Group – Morton Pediatrics the next day,” Christina said. “It ended up being a viral infection.”
Though Camden was an OSF patient, he still could have used the service if he wasn’t.
Christina appreciated that the OSF OnCall provider was very calming to her.
“It was the best $35 spent because I could talk to a provider in the comfort of my own home,” Christina said. “I felt reassured that if she suspected anything serious, she would have said so.”
Last Updated: February 15, 2022