The WellNow Urgent Care clinic in Cortland has closed without warning. The facility, which employed five staff members, had a sign on the door stating that it was “temporarily closed.”
The location opened in February 2022 and operated as a COVID-19 testing center. The employees reported that they had received no warning of the closure and had been terminated on March 8, 2023, without notice. One of the former workers said that she had not received her final paycheck.
The former employees said that they believed the closure was permanent, but a WellNow spokesperson said that the facility would reopen. However, there is no specific timeline for this yet. When asked why the company terminated staff if it was actively hiring to reopen the facility, a WellNow spokesperson said that there is currently a shortage of Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants in New York, which are vital roles in offering full urgent care services.
The former employees said that the cuts in Cortland did not include nurse practitioners or physician assistants, as the location used traveling nurse practitioners and physicians assistants who would visit several WellNow locations. According to the former employees, WellNow has also made staffing cuts in other locations in New York and in other states. The company did not provide specific details on company-wide cuts but said that it had to make some difficult organizational decisions that impacted staff at some of its locations.
WellNow said it is committed to providing the highest quality care and experience for its patients, which includes adjusting staffing models at each center as appropriate to meet essential patient care needs. WellNow encourages patients in need of urgent care services to visit one of their other locations in Central New York or start a virtual visit with a provider 24/7 at their website. The company stated that it is doing everything possible to support impacted team members during the transition.
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