We have compiled the following information, based on visit type and patient age, to help our patients and their families to better prepare for their office visits. In our Patient Portal, you'll find links to print the developmental and screening forms associated with that visit. Feel free to print and complete the form(s) prior to your visit. (There may be additional forms that reception will need to give you at your visit, but the Patient Portal will give our patients and parents the opportunity to complete most of the paperwork prior to the visit.)

1. General Notes About Office Visits

• Please present your insurance card and copay at the time of service, and notify us at check-in of any changes in your coverage since your child's last visit to our office. Patients who carry health insurance must familiarize themselves with the type and scope of coverage to which they are subscribing. If you are required by your insurance to name a Primary Care Provider, we must be listed as your child's Primary Care provider at the time of service. We recommend reviewing your copay and deductible information annually or at the time of any changes in your insurance coverage.

• Minor patients (under the age of 18 years) should be accompanied by their parent or guardian at all visits. We know that it is sometimes difficult to make arrangements for a parent or guardian to be present at an appointment, but it is important to have a parent or guardian present when making treatment decisions in order to provide the best care for your child.

• Please bring your child's current medications (even those medications prescribed by other providers and over-the-counter medications) to all office visits. It is very important that our providers are aware of all of your child's medications when making treatment decisions.

2. Visits When Your Child Is Sick, Or Visits To Recheck The Patient After An Illness

The medical assistant will measure the patient's vital signs (height, weight, temperature, and blood pressure and pulse if necessary), will perform any necessary testing (urine sample, bloodwork, strep test, etc.), and will review the patient's medical history and medication/allergy history prior to the patient's visit with the provider.

3. Visits For Well Checks (Physical Exams)

The following is a list of what is normally performed in addition to the provider's exam at well child checks, based upon the patient's age. This list is not meant to be all-inclusive: additional tests, screenings, or treatments may be performed as determined by your child's provider. The developmental and screening forms needed are available in the Patient Portal. Please feel free to complete these forms prior to your child's exam.

Every Well Child Check:

All well child checks include a complete set of vital signs (weight, height, temperature for all patients; head circumference for all patients up to 18 months old; pulse and blood pressure are measured for patients 3 years and older) and a review of the patient's health, medication, and allergy history. Our providers follow the guidelines set by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) for all well child checks and the testing and screenings performed at these visits. Patients between the ages of 6 months and five years of age will receive a new book at each well child check through our participation in the Reach Out and Read Program.

Note: Additional information regarding vaccines is available at www.cdc.gov/vaccines. You will be given a Vaccine Information Sheet (VIS) for each vaccine that your child is scheduled to receive prior to any vaccines being administered. Our providers follow the childhood and adolescent immunization schedules as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), per the Centers for Disease Control's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).

We respect your time and make our best effort to honor our appointment schedule. However, occasional disruptions do occur due to the nature of our practice. Just as we strive to adhere to our appointment schedule, we ask our patients to do the same.

If you need to reschedule or cancel an existing appointment, please call us as soon as possible, and at least 24 hours before the appointment, so that we may use the time for the needs of our other patients.  Late cancellations and no-shows will be charged a fee.

In consideration of our other patients, we may reschedule your appointment if you are more than 10 minutes late.

Office Hours

We start answering our phones at 8:00 am Monday through Friday. Our appointment hours are as follows:

• Monday 8:00am-5:00pm
• Tuesday 8:00am-5:00pm
• Wednesday 8:00am-5:00pm
• Thursday 8:00am-5:00pm
• Friday 8:00am-5:00pm
• Saturday 8:00am-12:00pm (Our staff starts taking phone calls at 7:30am; hours can vary depending on volume of calls received)
• Saturday hours will vary during the Summer months, please call between 8am-9am with any questions to ensure someone will be in the office to assist you! Thank you!
• Sunday: Closed

Note: Our office hours can vary due to provider time off and vacations, we will occasionally close earlier than our posted hours. If you are planning to stop by our office after 5pm, feel free to call us in advance to make sure that we will be open.

Holidays

Our office is closed on the following holidays:

• New Year's Day
• Memorial Day
• July 4th
• Labor Day
• Thanksgiving
• Day After Thanksgiving
• Christmas

Location

Located at 1176 Memorial Drive, Chicopee, MA 01020 (Just off the Mass Pike). Click here for a map and directions.

Call (413) 593-1333 to make an appointment or for directions to our practice.

Our providers and staff speak several languages, including Spanish, Polish, Russian, French, Portuguese, and Arabic.

Fairview Pediatrics is a primary-care pediatrics practice. We offer the following services to our patients and their families:

Well-Child Visits

We provide routine preventative medical care from birth to age 26.

Sick Visits

We reserve appointments each day for patients who need to come into the office for a urgent care or evaluation of a chronic condition. We recommend calling between 8am and 9am if you feel that your child needs a same day appointment. (For more information about same day appointments, see our Nurse Triage section, below.) During periods of high call volume, such as Monday mornings, the day after a holiday, or during a flu outbreak, we ask for your patience and understanding when our phone lines are busy. We will get to your call as soon as we possibly can.

Nurse Triage

If your child is sick or injured and you need medical advice, we have licensed nurses on site to speak with you during business hours. Our nurses also schedule our same day appointments, so you will be transferred to the nurse voice mailbox if you are calling to book a same day appointment for your child. When the nurse returns your call, she will discuss your child's symptoms with you and decide with you on the best course of action, whether it be booking an appointment or discussing how to care for your child at home. We regard our nursing staff as a valuable resource for our patients and parents, not as a barrier to obtaining an appointment. Our goals are to empower our parents to feel confident in taking care of their sick or injured child at home, when that course of action is appropriate, and to avoid booking unnecessary appointments.

Reach Out and Read

We are proud to be participating providers in the Reach Out and Read Program, which provides support, information, and books to parents of children ages 6 months to five years. The goal of the program is to increase literacy by reinforcing the importance of reading to your child in the preschool years.

Weekend Hours

Appointments are available on Saturday morning for urgent care only. We recommend calling our office between 8am and 9am to schedule an appointment, as our hours are based on the volume of calls received that day. We do not have office hours on Sunday; however, our after-hours nurse triage service is available if you need advice regarding a sick or injured child.

Evening Hours

Our practice has extended appointment hours on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings to help meet the needs of our patients' schedules. Our evening hours may occasionally vary due to provider time off and vacations. Hours may also vary based on appointment demand—if you are planning on coming to the office after 5:00 pm, please call first to confirm that we are still open.

After Hours Care

A provider from our practice is always on call for after-hours emergencies. We are contracted with an after-hours nursing triage service to provide advice for our patients should an urgent or emergency situation occur while our practice is closed. Our after-hours services are for urgent care only, and we appreciate your waiting until regular office hours to call for routine and non-urgent questions.

On-Site Laboratory Services

Phlebotomy services and specimen collections are available in our office. We perform various on-site testing services based on our patient's needs. Our specimens are sent to Baystate Reference Labs. If your insurance requires that your child's specimen to be handled differently, please inform your child's provider at the time of the visit. As with all other insurance issues, it is your responsibility to understand your insurance coverage and to notify our office in advance of any special circumstances involving your insurance.

Refills and Referrals

Requests for prescription refills or specialist referrals are only processed during normal weekday business hours. We require 48 business hours to process prescription refill requests, and we would appreciate at least 48 hours notice for referral requests.

Forms

Our staff will complete school, camp, and sports physical forms for patients on a first-come, first-served basis. Due to the high volume of forms received, please allow at least 5 business days for your paperwork to be completed, and please complete any required parent-supplied information on the form before giving it to our staff for completion. Please verify that your child has had a physical exam in the last 12 months when dropping off your paperwork, or we may not be able to complete your form. Due to health information privacy laws, our office policy does not allow fax transmission of forms, but we will mail your paperwork back to you if you provide us with a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

Copays and Insurance

We are required to collect any copay that your insurance requires at the time of service. We accept cash, credit cards, and checks as forms of payment. Please see our "Accepted Insurance" page for more information.

If you have any questions about our services or office policies, please contact us at (413) 593-1333 during normal business hours.

Fairview Pediatrics strives:

• To provide compassionate, excellent, evidence-based care in a professional, respectful and friendly environment.
• To partner with our families to increase their education, skills, and participation in developing a safe and healthy environment for their children.
• To create a workplace where the staff feel respected and share these common goals thru teamwork and collaboration.

At Fairview Pediatrics, we see each child as valuable as our own. We are honored to care for the children of our community, and take this to heart. We see the health of our patients not just as our responsibility, but as our duty.

It is our goal at Fairview to provide the best medical care possible, using up to date technology, consulting with specialized medical professionals, and utilizing diagnostic services from local labs and hospitals. We strive to serve our patients with thoughtful and sound medical treatment.

We approach each patient encounter as an opportunity not just to heal, but to teach and encourage our patients to be the best that they can be. Each provider takes special care in creating a respectful space for these children to be themselves, as they grow and develop into young adults.