MedWest Health System has started construction on an urgent care center along Interstate 40, at Exit 31, in Canton.

The location will be the new home of the urgent care center currently located on the MedWest-Haywood campus. MedWest serves western Haywood County with an urgent care center on Hazelwood Avenue in west Waynesville, and Jackson County with a new urgent care center in the Walmart Plaza in Sylva, set to be complete in July.

The MedWest Urgent Care Center in Canton will provide space for seven additional treatment rooms, bringing the total number of treatment rooms to 16. Urgent care centers provide care for non-life-threatening injuries and episodic illnesses and serve to offload volume from emergency departments, making wait times shorter for the treatment of such conditions. Patients treated at MedWest Urgent Care Centers can also find assistance in locating a primary care physician for follow-up and future needs, if the patient is not established with a physician.

The MedWest Urgent Care Center in Canton is scheduled to be open by December and will include two bays for Haywood EMS vehicles, as well as two sleeping rooms and showers for EMS workers. The Haywood County Sheriff’s Office and the North Carolina Highway Patrol will also have space in the building.