Nowadays, everyone is looking to have a physically and mentally healthy lifestyle. Some of us try to do this by spending more time with our families, working harder at our jobs, getting that gym membership or going to church every week. No matter what the focus or activity, we are all aiming for the same common goal – to live a longer and happier life. But as hard as you work, as smart as you may be, no matter how many yoga classes you have squeezed in or how many salads you’ve substituted for cheeseburgers at lunch, you are human and your body is fragile. So fragile, that despite your incredible efforts to try to overcome them, we are human and prone to certain tendencies that are simply unavoidable. And the most annoying of these tendencies and the biggest reminder that we are mortal, is when we get sick.

It can happen when you least expect it, or when you are praying that it won’t. All that matters is that it happens, you get sick. You sneeze unexpectedly, you get a cold in October, you eat something you shouldn’t have or were exposed to someone who was ill. There are so many ways it can happen. Even if you have a perfect six-pack and the diet of Arnold Schwarzenegger, it is a part of life – you will eventually get sick, and it is not fun. Aside from getting to miss school or work, there are few benefits to these magical events that inevitably occur throughout our lives. They are more so packaged with a handful of negatives, like getting behind at work, physical agony, mental stress and other inconveniences.

Like most people, when you are sick you probably want to get better and back to your normal routine as soon as possible, so you look for a solution. And thinking that relief will come as a quick prescription, you take the soonest available opening at your local medical clinic, hoping the end is near. But then you remember, I’m sick, and don’t want to move or my sore throat will hurt, or worse, I’ll throw up. So you reweigh your options, considering staying put and waiting it out.

For many, the worst part in the healing process is the dreaded waiting room. It can be overwhelming to some, no one knows exactly when they’re going in or when they’re coming out. Traditionally, waiting rooms are lifeless, plastered in neutral colors and filled with the faces of the ill and injured. Everyone sits alone, quiet, with a slight look of shame on their face like they did something wrong. It is as if everyone is in a courthouse, waiting to see the judge and man up to their crimes.

You have to find a way to not be sick anymore so you sit among them, arms crossed keeping to yourself. When you signed in you were told the doctor was a little overbooked so you may have to wait a bit, you know what that means. So you sit. Looking… Waiting… Judging…  A lady across the room blows her nose and then goes back to touching and reading her magazine. You know better, you may already be sick, but those magazines are covered with pathogen parties, and you won’t be attending this go around.

When you are sick time changes, a few minutes in a clammy waiting room away from your bed at home can seem like hours. The room silences, a medical wing door has opened, and everyone widens their eyes and holds their breathe… “Please, please call my name” you think to yourself, but an unfamiliar face is summoned. You and the rest of those waiting look at the victor with a rewarding glare, but with envy in your heart.

You continue to wait. After a few minutes another person is called, and your envy grows. You and everyone else try to maintain composure, sitting with reasonable posture and opened red eyes. You try to keep it cool, but overwhelmed with a sick body and a weak mind, you start dozing in and out of reality, imagining being at home in your warm bed, or perfectly healthy at work completely caught up on emails. You catch yourself, remembering who and where you are. You are sick, in a waiting room, surrounded by other sick people.

You ask yourself, why can’t things be different? How can this dreaded waiting room process be avoided? These are some of the questions that the folks at Next Level Urgent Care asked themselves when looking to provide the most convenient service possible for their patients. When you’re sick, not only are affordable prices and quality treatment important, your time is especially of value. That is why Next Level Urgent Care has developed an App that allows you to check-in ahead of time online, helping you avoid wait lines at the clinic. The App also allows you to preregister, so when you show up at the clinic, you simply check-in and are seen soon after (and we’re not talking waiting room terminology for “soon”… we mean within minutes).

Unlike many medical centers that have a doctor to patient ratio that is focused on maximizing profits, Next Level Urgent Care looks to give every patient personal attention. And this starts when you walk in. So say goodbye to what you are used to at your old doctor’s office, because even walk-ins see little to no wait time at our clinics. The App will take things one step further, minimizing wait time while also making registering as easy as possible on the patient.

The App launches July 1st, and Next Level Urgent will give early downloaders a free T-shirt.  So when sickness or injury strikes, don’t hesitate to seek relief. The dreaded waiting room can’t harm you anymore.