Doctors Express Opens On Richmond Highway

Former fighter pilot Earl Reed, partnered with wife Dorothy, opened Doctors Express with a ribbon cutting ceremony Friday morning. The modern urgent care facility is the first of its kind in the Mount Vernon area and will treat non-emergency health problems for walk in patients, with or without insurance.

"This is a community asset, no doubt about it," Earl Reed said. "We're not competing with the ER. We're not looking to replace your primary doctor. The first thing we'll ask is who is your doctor and in most cases, you'll get in and out in 45 minutes, no appointment necessary."

As an urgent care facility, Doctors Express focuses on non-life threatening conditions, physical exams, workman's comp, prescriptions and immunizations, and is staffed by several full and part time board certified doctors, nurses and technicians. With in-house technicians, patients can except expedited lab tests and x-ray results.  

"We have tests that are processed right here, and in most cases you get the results while you're in the office. If it's anything more extensive, we send it out," technician Laura Stlezer said. "Since our x-rays are digital they can be transferred to your primary doctor and are available almost instantly."

Dorothy explained that the location on Richmond Highway, the close proximity to BRAC projects and the distance to area hospitals and pharmacies were all considerations in opening the urgent care center across from Mount Vernon Plaza. As a government contractor, Earl was set on finding a business that would allow him to keep his day job, but Doctors Express quickly became his sole focus.

"Having owned my own company, I wanted to be my own boss again," Earl said. "I read in an article that 90 percent of businesses fail, but 90 percent of franchises succeed, so I started looking around for a franchise with a good business model."

A resident of Mount Vernon for the last 25 years, the Reeds spent the last three working toward opening Doctors Express and once the franchise paperwork was approved, construction of the state of the art facility was completed in just six weeks.

In the future Doctors Express will dispense common prescriptions directly to their patients, but until security is approved patients can use any pharmacy to fill prescriptions.