Lawrenceville Office
3685 Lawrenceville Hwy
Suite 100
Lawrenceville, GA 30044
770-921-7386
Buford Office
2050 Buford Hwy
Suite 101
Buford, GA 30518
770-614-7366
Suwanee Office
1500 P'Tree Ind Blvd
Suite 250
Suwanee, GA 30024
770-406-2500
After-Hours & Emergency Care
Please note change in protocol below (in red).
When can you treat your child at home, and when do you call for medical advice or head to the emergency room or the hospital? This can be a difficult question for parents to answer, but is an important one, and we'd like to offer some practical guidelines to assist you.
- If you feel like the situation is one that can wait until the next day, but you know you want to bring your child into the office, call our regular office numbers (770-921-7386 for Lawrenceville or 770-614-7366 for Buford) and leave a message on our voice mail. Someone will call you first thing in the morning and give you an appointment time.
- If the problem cannot wait until the next day for advice, call the 24-hour nurse advice service* provided by your medical insurance (check your insurance card for the phone number). On occassion, your situation may require that you call Children's Medicine. Our answering service will forward your call to the advice line at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA). If your problem is one that can be handled according to the standardized protocols, the Registered Nurse will help you. If your child's problem is medically complicated, or if you want to talk to the on-call physician, your call will be forwarded to the physician on call. There is always a doctor on call 24 hours a day.
- If you feel your problem is potentially life threatening you should call 911. If your child has suffered an injury that may be limb or eye threatening you should proceed immediately to the nearest emergency room.
- Refills of medications will be done only during business hours monday through friday. Requests after five pm will be filled the next business day.
In all cases involving sick children, we prefer that you use a facility that is dedicated to the care of children. These facilities include:
- Children's Healthcare of Atlanta sites at the Urgent Care Center on Satellite Boulevard near Boggs Road
- the Children's Emergency Room at Gwinnett Medical Center
- the Emergency Rooms at either the Egleston or Scottish Rite Campus of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.
The Urgent Care Center treats non-life threatening emergencies. There is also a children's emergency center at Eastside Hospital in Snellville which closes at midnight.
Hospital Care
We maintain staff privileges at both campuses of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) and Dekalb Medical Center. We generally recommend that children be hospitalized at one of the CHOA campuses. We may actually admit and follow your child at the hospital, but often will refer children to the hospital specialists for inpatient care.
*Nurse Advice Call Line Information
For many years Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) provided a free nurse advice line. However, a year ago due to federal regulations, this changed. CHOA now charges our practice a fee each time one of our patients calls the advice line. Since this change, our practice has incurred considerable extra expense during an already challenging economic time. We are trying to avoid passing this fee on to our patients. As most insurance plans offer a 24-hour nurse advice service, we are strongly encouraging our patients to utilize this option. The phone number for each plan is typically listed on your insurance card, but we have also included the phone numbers for many insurance plans below. There are also several links on our website to excellent pediatric resources for many common concerns. In case of a life-threatening emergency, call 911.
For matters that can be addressed during office hours, we continue to have phone nurses available at all three offices to provide assistance. As always, our providers are still available after hours for urgent problems.
Aetna 1-800-556-1555
Blue Cross/Blue Shield GA 1-888-724-2583
Blue Cross/Blue Shield Emory 1-866-545-3507
Cigna 1-800-564-8982
Kaiser 404-261-2825 (option 1)
Peachstate 1-800-704-1484 (opt 7)
United Healthcare 1-888-842-4224
Wellcare 1-800-919-8807
Keep Your Emergency Numbers Handy
Click the link below to print a set of phone numbers that you can cut out and tape to your refrigerator for easy access when needed. Write your insurance company's nurse advise line number (from the list above) on the blank line.