Three pediatric urgent care centers on Long Island have renewed a designation they were the first urgent care providers in the country to hold. The Northwell Health-GoHealth Urgent Care centers in Lake Success, East Northport and Hewlett have been re-designated Autism Friendly by Autism Speaks, two years after earning the mark for the first time in 2024.

The three centers treat infants, children and young adults, and are open seven days a week, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

What the designation requires

The Autism Friendly Designation is granted by Autism Speaks, the national autism advocacy organization. To qualify, at least 80 percent of a location's customer-facing staff must complete the organization's training on autism spectrum disorder, covering how to recognize and accommodate the ways an urgent care visit, with its noise, bright light and unfamiliar handling, can overwhelm an autistic child.

Dr. Gina Ruocchio, the clinical manager of pediatrics for Northwell Health-GoHealth Pediatric Urgent Care, has framed the goal as making visits more predictable and less stressful for autistic patients and their families. Lindsay Naeder, a vice president at Autism Speaks, has pointed to the centers' approach as a model for care settings working with autistic patients.

What a family sees in the room

The accommodations run through the whole visit. The centers maintain quieter exam rooms and lighting that can be dimmed, keep sensory kits on hand to lower stress during an exam, and publish online resources families can use to walk a child through what will happen before they arrive. At check-in, families have a private way to flag what accommodations a child needs, so staff can adjust the visit in real time rather than improvising mid-exam.

From three centers to fifty

When the Lake Success, East Northport and Hewlett centers first earned the designation in 2024, they were the first urgent care locations in the nation to do so. In the two years since, more than 50 urgent care centers across New York, Texas, Georgia and South Carolina have followed into the program.

For Long Island families, the renewal means the nearest designated pediatric urgent care is likely the one they already use: Lake Success on the Nassau-Queens line, Hewlett on the South Shore, and East Northport in western Suffolk.

Before you go

All three centers take walk-ins daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Visit-preparation resources for families of autistic children, and details on what the designation covers, are on the Northwell Health-GoHealth Urgent Care site.

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