The Emergency Department at Saint Agnes Medical Center is prepared to handle everything from heart attacks to broken bones with equal skill and speed. Patient care is available around the clock, and the emergency room is staffed with board-certified physicians, specially trained ER nurses, and dedicated support staff. Many patients are treated on-site and released. Patients with more serious illness or injury are admitted to the hospital and transferred to the appropriate department for further treatment.

Our Minor Care ER is used for patients with less serious illnesses and injuries, which has freed up more space in the Main ER and helped expedite treatment. It is located just off the emergency room and is staffed by a nurse practitioner or physician, an EMT and a registered nurse. This program has significantly reduced wait times in the Emergency Department.

HOW DO I KNOW IF I NEED TO VISIT THE EMERGENCY ROOM?

It is not always easy to evaluate whether an injury can be treated at home or if emergency medical help is needed.

If you or someone you are with exhibits any combination of these symptoms, it is recommended that you call 911 immediately:

• Chest pressure or chest pain
• Shortness of breath, difficulty swallowing, racing or skipping heartbeats, fainting
• Unusually severe headache, numbness, weakness or loss of vision (particularly on one side of body), dizziness, confusion, ringing in the ears, pupils of uneven size, loss of bowel or bladder control
• Bleeding that cannot be stopped (longer than five minutes)
• Falls (especially dangerous to the elderly)
• Poisoning, snake or spider bites  Health Scene Magazine - Sting Alergies
• Burns (second or third degree)
• Severe vomiting
• Unconsciousness

Make a first-aid kit for your home - Health Scene Magazine  

• If you know the patient, bring along any prescription medication being taken.
• Tell the ER team about any continuing illnesses, food allergies, medications, or any illegal drugs being used.
• Tell the team what language the patient speaks.
• Does the patient use eyeglasses, hearing aid, cane, walker or wheelchair?
• Let the emergency team take charge of the situation.

HOW TO REACT IN AN EMERGENCY

The critical moments immediately following an accident, injury or medical emergency can be crucial to the successful treatment of the patient since every second counts. Here are some ways you can assist in an emergency situation before medical help arrives.

Respond immediately

• If you are alone, call 911. (Cell phones or cordless phones can make this easier.)
• If someone else is present, one of you should stay with the victim while the other calls for help.
• Give the 911 dispatcher as much information as possible including location, type of emergency, number of victims, type of injury, details of condition (Is there bleeding? Is victim conscious? Number and location of wounds, etc.)
• Stay on the line until the dispatcher says you can hang up.
• Reassure the victim that help is on the way.
• If victim has vomited, or is bleeding from injury to mouth or neck, turn him on his side to prevent choking.
  

If the victim has stopped breathing:

• If the victim is an adult, call 911 first, then restore breathing.
• If the victim is a child, try to restore breathing first, then call 911.
• To provide artificial respiration:
  • Tip victim’s head back with chin pointing up.
  • Look, listen and feel for breathing.
  • If victim is not breathing, close victim’s nostrils by pinching shut.
  • Make a tight seal over victim’s mouth with your mouth.
  • Inflate victim’s lungs with two full slow breaths.
  • Watch victim’s chest fall while listening for air return between breaths.
  • Check for the pulse at the side of the neck for five seconds. If there is no pulse and there is no breathing, begin CPR if you have been trained.
  • If victim has a pulse, but is not breathing, continue artificial respiration.
  • Breathe for adults once every five seconds, for children once every four seconds, for infants once every three seconds.
  • Recheck for spontaneous breathing every few minutes.

WARNING SIGNS OF A HEART ATTACK

• Pressure, aching or burning (not necessarily pain) in the chest. Often it increases with activity and subsides with rest.
• Discomfort, tightness, squeezing or fullness in the chest, usually lasting longer than two minutes. Mild discomfort that may come back sooner, last longer or feel more severe each time.
• Discomfort in the teeth, jaw, inner arm (often the left) or back.
• Dizziness, fainting, sweating, nausea, shortness of breath or weakness. 

If you’re not sure whether discomfort is from heartburn or a heart attack, ask these questions: Is the discomfort in the center of the chest? Does it recur? Does it increase in intensity? Does it become more intense with exertion, then go away with rest? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, take an aspirin, call 911 for an ambulance, or have someone drive you to an emergency room. Don’t drive yourself.

SYMPTOMS OF A STROKE:

• weakness and numbness of the face, arm or leg (often on one side of the body only.)
• dizziness
• confusion
• headache
• ringing in the ears
• difficulty speaking
• change of mood
• pupils of uneven size
• difficulty in breathing or swallowing
• loss of bowel or bladder control
• unconsciousness

CLOT-BUSTING DRUGS

If you experience any combination of the above symptoms, 911 should be called immediately. New clot-busting drugs can dramatically reverse damage to the body if administered within three hours of the stroke.

Of course, very specific conditions dictate when t-PA can be administered successfully. Patients, or their families, need to be able to pinpoint the onset of the symptoms to help calculate whether t-PA can be used within the three hour window. The patient cannot have had a seizure associated with the stroke, be on any anticoagulant (blood thinning) drugs like coumadin or heparin, have had a gastro-intestinal or urinary hemorrhage, or recent lumbar puncture. 

Remember, it is better to seek treatment immediately and find your condition is not serious than wait and result in a permanent disability that might have been prevented.

HOW TO PROTECT AGAINST SHOCK

• To prevent shock, have person lie down on his back, keeping head level or slightly elevated.
• If the skin is pale and cool, cover the person with a blanket or additional clothing to provide warmth, but be careful not to overheat.
• If skin is hot and red, apply bath towels soaked in cool water until the skin returns to normal temperature, then cover with a blanket.
• Never give a person in severe shock anything to eat or drink.

LACERATIONS OR WOUNDS – Seek immediate medical attention for:

• Bleeding that doesn’t stop after five minutes when direct, steady pressure is applied
• A wound that is "gaping," a deep puncture, or when the skin is badly torn
• Wound edges that cannot be easily held together
• Problems with movement or sensation following injury
• Almost any cut on the face, head, neck or hand
• Any wound in which you can see tissue that appears to be muscle or fat
• Any wound showing signs of infection (i.e. fever, redness, swelling, bad smell, fluid draining from the area, red streaks, or increasing pain)
• Any cuts from animal or human bites

HOW TO STOP BLEEDING

• Apply direct pressure on the wound using a dressing, towel, rag, piece of clothing, or even your hand.
• It is more important to respond quickly to stop the bleeding, than it is to find a sterile dressing. Use whatever is available.
• Once pressure is applied to the wound, keep it in place. If dressing becomes soaked with blood, apply new dressing over the old dressing.
• If you do not suspect a fracture, elevate the wound above the level of the heart and continue applying pressure.
• If bleeding still does not stop, apply pressure at a pressure point (for arms, use the inside of the wrist where the pulse is checked or inside of the upper arm; for legs, use the crease in the groin).
• If you have been able to apply a pressure bandage over wound, check pulse to make sure circulation is not interrupted. A slow pulse rate or bluish fingertips and toes may signal that a bandage is too tight.

NEVER move an accident victim unless he or she is in a burning car or in some other immediate danger. Never attempt to remove an embedded object from a wound, and never give an accident victim alcohol, tobacco or anything to eat or drink.


REMEMBER, IF AT ALL POSSIBLE, THE INJURED PERSON SHOULD NEVER BE LEFT ALONE EXCEPT TO CALL 911.