Malibu Urgent Care Makes My Heart Skip a Beat

Inevitably, something aches or pains on a Sunday or after 5 p.m Not sure why it works this way, it just seems to be the norm. Luckily, Malibu Urgent Care Center is in town to cure what ails.

For more than a decade, emergency physicians Dr. David Frankle and Dr. Jill Furgurson have been taking care of anything from appendicitis to heart attacks to the common cold.

Being a big fan of the facility, I wanted to find out more about the center.

“We handle it all here,” Furgurson told me when she had a few rare quiet moments one afternoon as we sat together in her office. “We do IVs, stitches, allergic reactions, rapid heartbeats …” The list went on.

They even do cosmetic procedures (Botox and fillers) at this walk-in center. “I’ll be working on a child’s broken ankle and the mom will realize we do Botox here, and we’ll do it for her while she’s here,” Furgurson said (the doctor said she actually really enjoys doing these types of procedures because she understands the facial muscles and can help make someone feel good).

Furgurson has been board-certified in emergency medicine since 1980. She was working at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica when the Northridge earthquake of 1994 hit. The hospital closed for a year, so without a position, she gravitated to her current location. Frankle, who has been board-certified in emergency medicine also since 1980, arrived about the same time. In 2000, they partnered to head up the urgent care.

All things considered with locals, the doctors here are very much like family doctors, and patients feel the same way. The bulletin board I saw when I first walked in is full of cards made by the littlest of patients; children communicating through drawings and words, giving thanks for their care.

“They treat you like family there,” Malibu resident Dave Kohler said. I agreed as we talked about the place. The staff is super friendly, and everyone there genuinely makes me feel like they care. I know that every time I’ve visited over the years, they always follow up the next day with a phone call. It often makes my cold and me feel a little better knowing someone acknowledges my sniffles.

But it doesn’t come without a price, Furgurson said. Although they take most insurance carriers—good for us, not necessarily for the doctors—they are at the mercy of the payments. In addition, the center is open 365 days a year, with extended hours. Whether or not there is “urgent” care needed, the staff and doctors still need to be on-hand during all open hours, and they need all types of emergency medicines available.

Furgurson said, “Because we need to be prepared to handle any type of emergency, we have to make sure we have medicines on-hand to handle heart attacks and seizures, EKGs, etc. These things expire, so we have to continually make sure we have fresh medicine. It is a very big cost.”

So residents formed Friends of Malibu Urgent Care to help raise funds to make sure the facility can stay open and provide the best care. One hundred percent of every dollar helps cure the cost of the urgent care. The goal, according to the website and shared by Furgurson, is to help pay for those extended hours and make sure state-of-the-art medicines and machines are available.

“I feel very fortunate to be able to live in and serve this community,” Furgurson said. “It is important for those living here to have access to health care.”

I agree ... I especially agree on Sunday mornings when I decide whatever does ail me absolutely cannot wait until Monday.

Malibu Urgent Care: 23656 Pacific Coast Highway, adjacent to the Chevron station at Webb Way