Emergency care in Lufkin received a big expansion as Memorial Health System of East Texas opened a new emergency room this week containing 32 rooms, twice the size of its original emergency department.
Located on the first floor of the hospital's new Cardiovascular & Stroke Center, the new ER includes three trauma rooms that are capable of expanding to six if the need arises, a press release stated.
Joel Andrews/The Lufkin Daily News |
Darrell Allen R.N., at work in Memorial Health System of East Texas' brand new emergency department.
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Joel Andrews/The Lufkin Daily News |
A look inside Memorial Health System of East Texas' brand new emergency department which is twice as big as the hospital's previous ER.
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Hospital staff say they wanted to create something different with the new ER.
"When designing the emergency department we wanted the look and feel to be different than the typical emergency or hospital setting by using warm, friendly colors, natural lighting and wood grain fixtures and flooring," said Jerry Fears, RN director of emergency services at Memorial.
There are also three rooms that are designed for pediatric patients, and they are decorated with murals of giraffes, monkeys, seagulls and aquatic wildlife.
Increasing the number of rooms also means increasing the number of staff on hand to treat an emergency.
Along with major trauma and life-threatening illnesses, nurses are also trained to specialize in heart and stroke care.
A dedicated stroke team complete with board certified neurologists and a telemedicine partnership with Methodist Hospital gives stroke patients at the ER an advanced level of care, a press release stated.
"Keeping patients' needs in the forefront while planning, we focused on improving emergency processes by the facility layout, patient flow, advanced equipment and highly trained staff," Fears said. "Employees trained in multiple areas can expedite the treatment process and our registration clerks can also perform a patients' lab testing, imaging studies and other necessary treatment methods."
The new facilities also house a rooftop helipad for air ambulances and elevators to transport patients between the helicopter and the emergency department within minutes.
For added security the waiting area is equipped with a 24-hour security station as well as campus-wide video surveillance to protect patients and guests, a press release stated.
Adding to the treatment provided through the new emergency department are the additional services housed on the third and fourth floors of the Cardiovascular & Stroke Center.
The second floor is dedicated to cardiac and surgery care, while the intensive care and progressive care units are located on the third and fourth floors of the new stroke center.
Staff say that by housing the critical care units in such close proximity, the hospital and its staff have the resources at their fingertips to care for the most critical patients possible.
Patients can access the new ER from Ellis Street, entering at the first floor of the Cardiovascular & Stroke Center.
With the relocation of the emergency department entrance, all non-emergency guests entering the ER after hours should use the hospital's main entrance on West Frank Avenue, a press release stated.
