Paul Kaufmann had some time to think as he sat in an emergency room waiting to be seen for the leg injury he sustained in his July 24 collision with golf course flora.

His main thought was, "There has got to be a better way to help people and leave the world a little better than it was when I found it."

Kaufmann hopes he has found that way in the chain of small, affordable clinics he is trying to set up in California. He's partnered with Longs Drugs stores to provide health clinics inside stores across California.

On Nov. 7, the WellnessExpress Clinic in the El Camino Real Longs Drugs store opened its doors, the second such clinic in the Bay Area. As founder and president, Kaufmann said the WellnessExpress Clinics, and their partner company Wellness Express Healthcare, are dedicated to providing quality care to patients as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Kaufmann partnered with two of the doctors who were in the ER when he was treated. The trio set out to change the way people get their day-to-day care. Dr. Wesley P. Chan--president of the medical side of Wellness Express--said that he too saw the need for more accessible care.

"While working in the emergency room or urgent care clinic, I saw a lot of people who didn't really need to be there, but there wasn't anywhere else for them to go," Chan said.

The first clinic opened in October 2004 in Davis and expanded with clinics in Salinas and Sonoma. In just over a year, Kaufmann said they saw 1,500 patients.

"We liked what we saw, and the patients liked what they saw," Kaufmann said.

With their test run in smaller markets complete, Kaufmann set his sights on the Bay Area. He said they hope to open at least two clinics a month throughout California. The next one is set to open in the Longs on Tully Road in San Jose.

The clinics--staffed by nurse practitioners and/or physician assistants--specialize in typical family care issues such as treating common infections, skin conditions such as acne and poison oak and minor injuries such as muscle strains and tendonitis.

And, most importantly now, the clinics provide vaccinations, including those for seasonal influenza, measles, mumps and rubella, which is a required vaccination for children going to school.

While the clinics accept most major health insurance providers, they provide services to customers for fees that Kaufmann says are sometimes half of what it would cost elsewhere. Clinic staff can also prescribe select medicines--mainly those that don't require continued patient testing or blood work.

For patients who normally go to personal physicians, the clinic writes up notes on the treatments they provide to make sure regular health care providers know what has been done. For patients without a primary care physician, Kaufmann said the clinic can help them find one.

The setting may be a new one, but this type of treatment is nothing new to the clinic staff who are providing the care.

"This is their bread-and-butter; they're trained to provide family care like this, so it makes sense to have them in this role," Chan said. "For the problems they'll face, they're more than qualified."

Rayli Chang--the nurse practitioner who oversees the Sunnyvale and Campbell stores--worked for six years in a number of medical facilities, including major hospitals and smaller clinics.

"I think of this as an adventure. It's very challenging," Chang said. "When I was becoming a nurse practitioner, I wanted autonomy, I wanted to be able to use my own judgment."

For more information on the WellnessExpress Clinics, visit www.wellnessexpressclinic.com.