New medical office complex opens in Mayfield Township

Dr. Michael ZielinskI has been practicing medicine in Lapeer since 1987. His Lapeer Family & Urgent Care moved into new facilities at 1794 North Lapeer Road on May 3. MAYFIELD TWP. — While he’s still three weeks away from an official grand opening, things are buzzing at Dr. Michael Zielinski’s Lapeer Family & Urgent Care.

After four years in a rented space on Davison Road, Zielinski and his staff moved into a new 14,478-square-foot facility on North Lapeer Road in Mayfield Township on May 3.

The new facility expands the area available for his urgent care and family practice from 3,000 square feet to 8,500 square feet. The balance of the space being used by Mid-Michigan Diagnostics, Thibodeau Physical Therapy and McLaren Imaging Center Lapeer.

Currently Zielinski has three parttime physicians and three physician assistants working with him, but with exam rooms, Lapeer Family & Urgent Care was built with growth in mind. So far this year alone Zielinski said he’s seen the facility’s patient load grow by 250.

“We saw 20,000 people last year,” he said, adding, “We expect to see 22,000 to 23,000 this year.” He said that’s because there’s a shortage of primary care physicians in Lapeer County.

Even with a primary care physician, people can find themselves waiting two or three days to get an appointment. The alternative, an emergency room, can be expensive. Between the hospital and physician charges, noted Zielinski, an emergency room visit is typically going to cost at least $400 on average.

A first-time office visit for the uninsured at Lapeer Family & Urgent Care will cost $60, said Zielinski and subsequent visits are $40.

Zielinski said, “Sixty percent of the things people think of as emergencies, we can handle right here.” From cuts and bruises to broken bones or respiratory illness, “we can handle almost anything,” he said.

Unlike many urban urgent care facilities, Lapeer Family & Urgent Care is open seven days a week with hours from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. However, Zielinski said he’s already considering expanding hours.

Lapeer Family & Urgent Care, said Zielinski, was “designed with the patient in mind.” From a large, open lobby patients take either a hallway to one of five exam rooms on the family practice side of the facility or a hallway to the five rooms on the urgent care side. “It’s much more calm and sedate than an ER,” he said. “We value privacy. There’s no one running around.”