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AfterOurs Welcomes Mayor Fried, Community
to Robbinsville Grand Opening

ROBBINSVILLE, N.J. – AfterOurs, an urgent care practice operating from the offices of Rednor Risi Family Medicine, today celebrated its formal grand opening with Mayor Dave Fried and local officials.

“I’m pleased to welcome AfterOurs to the community, and I wish Dr. Strauss, Dr. Magariello and Dr. Rednor great success,” Mayor Fried said. “As a growing community with many children, we need this part of the medical system.”

AfterOurs, the first urgent care provider in Robbinsville, seeks to fill a niche for patients who suffer medical problems or minor injuries at nights or on weekends. Urgent care providers, whose presence is growing in New Jersey, seek to supplement primary care physicians, not replace them, according to Dr. Scott Strauss, the medical director of AfterOurs in Robbinsville.

The company, based in Colorado, works with local medical directors and well-known community physicians to provide urgent care in existing practice spaces. Besides Dr. Strauss, the AfterOurs team includes Dr. Mark Magariello, medical director of Occupational Health at Robert Wood Johnson University Medical Center in Hamilton and a Robbinsville resident, and Dr. Jeffrey Rednor of Rednor Risi.

Council President Rich Levesque, who serves as liaison to the Economic Development Advisory Committee, said the opening of AfterOurs shows that Robbinsville is a great place to do business. “We are a community where new ventures know they can be successful.”

Following its soft opening in mid-May, AfterOurs will be open from 5 to 10 p.m. Monday to Friday, and from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

Dr. Strauss explained how urgent care fills an increasingly important place in the medical care delivery system.

“We reduce the load on primary care physicians, who will get fewer calls in the middle of the night,” he said. “We reduce the number of ER visits, which are more costly for both the patient and the insurance company, and are much more inconvenient for the patient.”

Dr. Magariello, who has lived in the community for 20 years and serves as the Robbinsville High School physician, said the concept has worked elsewhere and is “long overdue” in Robbinsville. When young children get sick on weekends, the ER is not always the solution – and neither is waiting until Monday morning.

“Pediatric patients in particular need to be seen promptly,” he said. “Here, they can be seen by board-certified physicians.”

What kind of event belongs in an urgent care center, vs. a hospital?

High fevers, possible strep throat, minor fractures, a laceration that requires a few stitches – all are examples of medical problems that can be handled by AfterOurs, allowing the patient – and Mom and Dad – to avoid the expense and long waits of the ER, according to Drs. Strauss and Magariello.

“We are a supplement, not a replacement,” said Dr. Strauss, who explained that after a visit to an urgent care center, the patient’s chart is sent to his or her regular primary care physician.

Co-payments for a visit to AfterOurs are less than an ER visit but more than a co-payment for one’s primary care physician, Drs. Strauss and Magariello explained. Still, that’s a substantial savings. “An ER visit will run between $100 and $300, compared to $30 to $50 here,” Dr. Magariello said. More insurance companies are pricing urgent care co-payments to discourage overuse of the ER, Dr. Strauss explained.

While there is no formal relationship with RWJ-Hamilton, Dr. Magariello explained that the physicians at AfterOurs are familiar with the emergency room there. If a patient arrives whose needs are beyond urgent care, he said, “we have an excellent hospital three minutes away where we can send them.”     

Robbinsville Township officials gathered Saturday June 19 with the principals of AfterOurs Urgent Care’s new location on Washington Boulevard for a “gauze cutting” to celebrate the arrival of the community’s first urgent care center. From left are Councilman David Boyne, AfterOurs CEO Christopher T. Rehm, Dr. Mark Magariello, Schools Superintendent Steve Mayer, Robbinsville Mayor Dave Fried, Dr. Scott Strauss, Councilwoman Chris Ciaccio, Mercer Regional Chamber of Commerce President Michele Siekerka, and Council President Rich Levesque.