Heavens Urgent Care, 105 S. Delaware Drive Suite No. 1 in Apache Junction, recently earned a Certified Autism Center designation. It is awarded by The International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards to organizations that complete training and certification to better understand and serve autistic individuals.

All staff at Heavens Urgent Care have completed training to better identify, communicate, and treat patients who may be autistic and need adjustments to their clinical experience or treatment., according to a release.

The Apache Junction business is the first urgent care center to earn the CAC designation in Arizona and joins dozens of other Mesa and surrounding community organizations as part of the Mesa Autism Certified City initiative, the release states.

“Heavens Urgent Care is proud to be the first and only autism certified urgent care in Arizona. We believe in caring for patients and families with the highest quality of care and compassion. All of our staff has completed autism training and certification through IBCCES and many of our staff have autistic family members and understand the special needs of this population,” Roxanne Heavens of Heavens Urgent Care said in the release. “Our goal is to make your urgent care visit as pleasant and smooth as possible. We believe that all patients matter and treat them with the utmost respect. Our urgent care decided to focus on autism because we feel that there are not enough specialized health care clinics that understand the unique needs of autistic patients. Statistically, autistic patients are more likely to use urgent care for their health care needs. Our team wanted to do something different, so we decided to serve a population that we felt were being underserved.”

Currently, one in 44 children are diagnosed with autism in the U.S. according to the CDC, and a growing number of individuals also have sensory sensitivities or receive an autism diagnosis later in life, the release states.

“We were so pleased when Heavens Urgent Care reached out to us because they had a great desire to connect with and serve their patients in the best way possible. With Mesa being an Autism Certified City, today’s announcement from Heavens Urgent Care adds to the rich community support that Mesa offers,” IBCCES Board Chairman Myron Pincomb said in the release.

For more than 20 years, IBCCES has been the industry leader in cognitive disorder training and certification for education, health care and corporate professionals around the globe. IBCCES provides evidence-based training and certification programs created in conjunction with its board of clinical and subject matter experts and autistic individuals to provide professionals with a better understanding of autism and other cognitive differences.

IBCCES also created CertifiedAutismCenter.com as a free online resource for parents that lists certified locations and professionals.

About Heavens Urgent Care

Heavens Urgent Care serves Pinal County and Maricopa County and surrounding areas, including Apache Junction, Mesa and the Phoenix East Valley.

“We care for people of all ages with expertise in the care of older patients with complex medical conditions. We believe in caring for patients and families with the highest quality of care and compassion,” the release states. “Our staff and providers have had special training to help when it is difficult to access elsewhere. Our team wanted to do something different, so we decided to serve a population which we felt were being underserved. 100% of our staff have completed autism certification through IBCCES.”

Go to heavensurgentcare.com.