You are not the patient. You are the one still answering the phone.

Sometimes the person reading this is not the injured one. You are a parent, a spouse, a coach, a shop foreman, a front desk, or the friend still answering their phone at nine at night. They were in a crash, they say they are fine, and you do not believe them. This page is for you: how to get them examined this week, and where your job ends.

Why they keep saying they are fine

Because at the scene they were. Stress chemistry blunts pain for hours. By the time it wears off they have already told three people they are fine and it feels like backing down to say otherwise. Add the fact that soft-tissue injury swells on a delay, so the worst of the neck and back does not show up until day two or three, and you get a person who is stiff, irritable, and insisting. The lag page explains the arc. You do not have to win the argument. You have to get them in the door.

The handoff, in five lines

The useful handoff is small. Their name. A number that actually reaches them. One sentence on what happened and when. Where it hurts today. Which of the three rooms is the shorter drive. That is everything the clinic needs to book a first visit, and everything you need to stop carrying.

• Hazelwood, north county: (314) 627-1411. Mon to Thu 9 to 6, Fri 9 to 12.
• Tesson Ferry, south county: (314) 530-5480. Mon to Thu 9 to 6, Fri 9 to 12.
• O'Fallon, West Terra Lane: (636) 280-0990. Mon, Tue, Thu 9 to 6. Wed and Fri by appointment.

Every room closes 12 to 2 daily. Call the room first so nobody arrives at a closed door, and tell the injured person what you told the clinic. A handoff they did not hear about is not a handoff.

Watch for the head

You are in a better position than they are to notice a head injury, because you can see them from the outside. Slower than usual. Repeating themselves. Bothered by the kitchen light. Sleeping at odd hours. Short with people they are not usually short with. If any of that is in the picture, say the head when you call, and read the head page first, because it starts with the list of symptoms that mean an emergency room instead of a clinic. If they are vomiting, increasingly confused, cannot be woken, or have one pupil larger than the other, you are not driving them to a clinic. You are driving them to the ER or calling 911.

Where your job ends

Then step back. You are getting someone an exam, not managing their care. Do not promise an outcome, a schedule, or a dollar figure on anyone else's behalf. Do not tell them what the exam will find. Do not tell them what to say about a claim; that is not your lane and it is not this desk's lane either. If they already have an attorney, remind them to bring that contact so records can be sent where they need to go, and leave it there. They do not need to have decided anything about a claim before they get examined.

What you can do is the three-lines-a-night habit on their behalf if they will not do it themselves. How was the morning, what made it worse, how was the evening. A week of that, handed to a clinician at the first visit, is a better history than anything either of you will remember in the room.

If you are a coach or an employer

Two things. First, the same rules: get them examined, do not diagnose, do not promise. Second, Missouri Injury Clinic publishes sports injuries and return-to-training care as one of its three lanes, alongside auto injuries and concussion rehab. If the crash happened to an athlete, the return-to-sport question is one the clinic's own pages say it handles. Ask it at the first visit rather than guessing on the sideline.

The one sentence to leave them with

"A documented exam this week protects your health and your options." It is true, it is not a threat, and it does not require them to have decided anything. The record is a care document first. Everything else takes care of itself. Here is what that record is.