VIDEO: Rex doctors rap about urgent care versus an emergency room
KNIGHTDALE, N.C. (WTVD) -- Tap here to view on app.
With the cold and flu season picking up, some doctors at Rex are taking a different approach to educating the public on when to go to the urgent care versus an emergency room. In fact, these medical practitioners have made their own music video, and for once, this is something they "do" hope will go "viral."
"Word up ya'll, we're the doctors, yo', we're the stars of the rhyme we're about to flow. It's a message that it's time to know when it's time to come here, when it's time to go," is how the video opens with a doctor in his traditional white lab coat rapping the lyrics.
Specifically, the message he and his colleagues were hoping to share by making this music video was to remind you that urgent care is a viable option for patients as opposed to going to the emergency room.
"We treat poison ivy, and a bunch of skin rashes, diagnose your stomach cramps and your bad gashes," raps another urgent care physician.
So what led an otherwise straight-laced group to take this unconventional approach?
"We decided to craft that message into something clever and hopefully memorable to put out to the public to know about the void that we fill, because we can be faster than primary care and cheaper than an emergency room," one of the video's stars, Doctor Linwood Watson, explains.
Nationally, the average cost of a visit to the ER is more than $2,100, compared to $155 at an urgent care facility. Along with the Knightdale location where Dr. Watson works, there are Rex Express Cares in Cary, Holly Springs, and Wakefield. They are all open during hours when regular doctors' offices aren't - including evenings, weekends, and all holidays except Christmas.
And, as the doctors tout in the chorus of the video: "Oh Rex Express, not as much stress. We get you in and out and we charge you less. We're not too far so when you get in your car, you sometimes should use us instead of ER."
Of course, these doctors advise there are times when you absolutely need to go to the emergency room, including if you're having a heart attack or stroke. But in other cases such as a broken arm or bad insect bite, you might want to head their way first. And they weren't afraid to get a little silly to get that message across.
"No one wants to appear stupid, but at the same time, if you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at? And if it's for a good cause, what the heck," says Dr. Watson.
So, does that mean there might be an encore in the future?
"Well, we'll see. You know, perhaps another musical genre, I don't know if we could do the big hair 80's movement, obviously I'd be a little challenged for that," laughs a very bald Dr. Watson.
