During the past several years, Dr. David Fletcher heard many complaints from patients that they had trouble getting in to see doctors on short notice when they were sick. So Fletcher, a specialist in occupational medicine, and two of his colleagues recently opened an urgent care clinic next door to St. Mary's Hospital. Fletcher, Dr. Allen Semones and Dr. Nick Vlachos held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday at the Lakeshore Urgent Care Center, located on the second floor of the St. Mary's Medical Arts Building. "We wanted to do it on a hospital campus for backup services of a full service hospital," said Fletcher, who established SafeWorks Illinois Occupational Health Clinic at St. Mary's in October 2001. In January, Semones and Vlachos joined the clinic. On March 1, the urgent care center was added. Semones, a physician for 24 years who worked at Decatur Family Practice from 1992 to 2001, is serving as the medical director of the center. Semones said urgent care is for patients who have an acute injury or illness. "It's much cheaper than going to an emergency room," Semones said. Physicians at the center can meet the ongoing needs of patients who don't have family physicians, especially those with mild to moderate illnesses, such as blood pressure and diabetes, he said. Others, who already have physicians but need attention before their doctor has a schedule opening, can come to the center and then receive additional care elsewhere. Fletcher said the urgent care center is unique locally, because it is physician owned and operated, rather than being owned by a particular hospital. Rose Garren, director of the center, conducted a brief tour on Wednesday. "Hopefully, this will be a real plus for the community," Garren said.