CANDLER, N.C. — Urgent care facilities have started to reopen providing a crucial lifeline for many people in western North Carolina who for the past week had little access to food, water, electricity and convenient health care in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. 

Elena Gherasim, 42, of West Asheville, said it was a “huge blessing” to have a FastMed Urgent Care open so close to her home after she unexpectedly needed to seek medical attention for her 14-year-old son Saturday morning. 

“He took a shower and right after he took a shower, a big rash on his neck started and his face was swollen. When I woke up this morning it was a little worse so I had to bring him,” she said outside of FastMed’s Candler location. 

Gherasim, who works at Mission Hospital in Asheville, said the water stopped working at her family’s home about two days after the storm. When the water started working again Friday, her son took a shower. 

“I’m guessing contaminated water and he had an allergic reaction,” she said. They were headed to a pharmacy to pick up medication for the teen. 

FastMed’s location in Candler opened its doors Saturday. It was the last of five hurricane-affected clinics to open. Asheville’s location opened Friday and the clinic in Hendersonville resumed operations on Tuesday. 

Two other urgent care centers — one in Boone and one in Wilkesboro — opened shortly after Helene.

The clinics in Candler and Asheville are using a temporary water system until water in both cities is restored, a company spokesperson said. The Asheville clinic is also operating on a generator.

How long these provisions will last remains unclear, but the company said it was crucial they open as soon as possible. 

“We knew that after the storm there’s incredible pressure on the medical facilities in the area. We know that Biltmore Village in particular, in Asheville, was hit particularly hard and we wanted to make sure that folks in that area knew that we were there as a resource as they start the recovery,” FastMed spokesperson Andrew Sawyer said. “When you’re doing recovery, things are going to happen and we want to make sure that health care is easy and accessible for everyone in that region.”

Mission Hospital, the primary hospital in the area which has been serving patients, has been gradually recovering after the storm crippled its water infrastructure. More food has arrived and the facility now has water trucks, mobile bathrooms and handwashing stations.

The Asheville FastMed clinic, situated in the heavily damaged Biltmore Village, was fairly quiet Saturday but treated a few patients Friday. Some streets surrounding the clinic remained closed and power was slowly being restored. A few people filed in and out of the Candler location. 

The urgent care center in Hendersonville has been treating about 40 patients a day since reopening, a slightly higher number than usual, according to Sawyer.

Most patients have sought treatment for lacerations, general illness, and bee stings, he said. The clinics also have an uptick in patients needing emergency prescription refills because their primary care office is closed. 

“When we reopened after the storm we didn’t know what to expect in terms of patient volume but we knew that we needed to be available,” Sawyer said, adding FastMed’s goal was to provide “convenient, easy access to health care.” 

“Folks have lost everything and they need to be able to get care quickly and easily,” he said. “The goal for us is not volume right now, the goal is to be available and to be there for the people in that community that need us the most.”

Mercy Urgent Care has re-opened eight locations in Burnsville, West Asheville, Weaverville, Waynesville, Foothills and Brevard.

Gherasim said the clinic reopening helped her get son quickly seen by a doctor and saved her from having to wait in long emergency room lines at Mission Hospital. 

“It is a blessing to have the urgent care very close to our house and be able to get the help you need,” she said.