When I got home from my Zumbro 50 miler my feet were sore, and I could tell I was going to lose the toenails on both my big toes. The one on the right was particularly painful though. I tried a few things to relieve the pressure, but as the week went on it just kept hurting more and more. It was time to go see a doctor and figure out if it was infected.

One of the perks that many employers give now is an on-site clinic just for employees. I know that these types of benefits were common many decades ago, but they went out of fashion long before I was born. These clinics are often associated with the health insurance provider for the company, meaning that the services are provided at low cost, or even free.

I decided to give the clinic at my work a shot to see if they could take care of my problem. I scheduled an appointment for mid-morning and headed down to see how it all worked. I walked in at my appointment time and was seen right away. She did her diagnosis and determined it was in fact an infection on my toe/toenail. I was then informed that she has the antibiotics right there at the clinic, prepackaged for the course that I needed.

Within 15-20 minutes I was done, and walking out with my prescription in hand. Plus, since this clinic is affiliated with the larger clinic system that our insurance supports, all of my records were right there, and I didn’t need to fill out any paperwork. This was by far the easiest clinic visit I’ve ever done, and think that any company that could provide this to their employees would be doing them a great service.