Hays Medical Center (HMC) is offering a free nursing hotline.  The hotline is designed to be an alternative for people that don’t have a physician and have healthcare questions.  The free service is open to anyone in the community, and is meant to provide advice and guidance from certified medical professions.

The nurses that staff the phone lines are able to answer questions about symptoms, disease processes and medication advice among other items.  They can also determine if callers should seek immediate medical attention based on the information provided over the phone.  Nurses will only ask for basic information to be used in demographic reporting. Also, if the caller indicates that he or she has a physician, the nurse will forward a report of the conversation to that office for informational purposes.

The service is not staffed in house by HMC.  Instead, a third party company will be handling the calls.  Stormont-Vail HealthCare in Topeka, a company who has offered over-the-phone medical advice for several years, will provide the staffing for the hotline.  Only Registered Nurses that have been in the profession for a number of years will be allowed to work the phones.

Carol Groen, Manager of Education, SANE, and Special Projects at HMC told Hays Post while it’s still in the early stages; there is the possibility of future growth and services.

“We had no idea what to expect when we started this. We knew that once the community knew it was available, they would use it. ‘What dose of Tylenol do I give my son’ or things like that; these hotlines are great for that. What we’re doing is collecting some data for a while and if the demand becomes big, then we will have to look at what else, what our plans are in the future.”

Groen also said that the hospital isn’t receiving any incentive from insurance providers or the state to host the hotline. Instead, it’s being put on by the hospital as a free service for the community.

Currently, the hotline is available Mondays – Fridays 4:80 p.m. – 8:00 am and 24 hours a day on Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays. The phone number is 1-855-HAYSMED (1-855-429-7633).