WATERBORO — Welcome to the Walk-In Care clinic, open seven days a week. That was the message when the facility re-opened its doors Dec. 1, and it was the message again on Wednesday, when some local representatives, Southern Maine Health Care personnel and others paused to mark the occasion.

The facility closed in the face of a staffing shortage in June. SMHC predicted a Jan. 1 re-opening. But then word came down that the clinic would re-open a month earlier than expected, on Dec. 1.

On its first day, the facility saw 43 patients ”“ a figure the clinical director for physician services Louise Beaulieu called “steady.” The six staff members here have been busy ever since.

The Waterboro walk-in clinic is the second clinic of its kind in the county, under the helm of Southern Maine Heath Care. There’s another in Saco, and hospital officials are planning to open a walk-in clinic in Kennebunk in April. SMHC President Ed McGeachey said there may be another in the offing, as well, at the Sanford hospital campus.

For now, though, the attention is on the re-opening of the Waterboro facility.

“Waterboro is an important community partner for SMHC, and it was a disappointment when the Walk-In Care had to be closed temporarily in June due to a staffing shortage,” McGeachey said. “SMHC is very excited to be open again, and now providing non-emergency care … to Waterboro and the surrounding communities.”

So what’s the deal with the walk-in clinic? Well, the providers said, they treat coughs and colds, ear aches, abrasions, broken bones and more. They are there if your own doctor can’t see you on a particular day, said Dr. Daniel Mazza, the medical director of the two walk-in clinics, and after hours, when doctors’ offices are typically closed. They can supply a flu shot, tuberculosis tests for employment, and undertake sports and camp physicals. There’s a lab to determine if you have the flu, strep, are pregnant, have mononucleosis or more, said Elaine Guillemette, a registered nurse.

The facility was built more than seven years ago by Goodall Hospital of Sanford, which merged with Southern Maine Medical Center in Biddeford a year ago to form Southern Maine Health Care. During the months it was closed, the space was renovated to increase efficiency.

And while anyone with heart pain or some other serious malady, like acute abdominal pain, are encouraged to go to a hospital, sometimes folks with those symptoms come to the walk-in clinic, Guillemette said, where they’re seen and transferred on by Waterboro EMS to a larger facility.

Bernard Gaines, the chairman of the SMHC Board of Trustees, said the objective of walk-in clinics are to get care “as close to the population as possible.”

“It’s such a blessing to be open again, and it’s so important to the rural towns,” said Republican Sen. David Woodsome of Waterboro, and the chairman of the Waterboro Board of Selectmen.

Woodsome said when the facility closed, he worried it wouldn’t re-open.

“It’s a great service to the area,” he said.

Angela McGarrigle, owner of Good For All Pharmacy, which leases space in the SMHC Waterboro complex, said she’s glad the walk-in clinic is back in operation.

“There’s care for the community that’s quick and efficient,” she said.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or [email protected].