Emergency and Trauma
We hope you never experience a traumatic medical emergency, but if you do, we’re ready to help.
As a Level II Trauma Center, a Level I Cardiac Center and a regional stroke care leader, we have the resources and experience to offer your family a higher level of care than typical emergency departments. Multi-specialty trauma teams at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center are ready at any hour to manage complex and critical emergencies.
Our on-staff trauma surgeons coordinate all services. Your trauma team includes trauma doctors, nurses and others who offer expert assessment with fast medical and surgical or critical care as needed. We provide emergency pediatric treatment through Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital, which is also a Level II Pediatric Trauma Center.
Providence emergency and trauma teams treat a wide variety of sudden or severe illnesses and injuries. Doctors provide immediate care for potentially life-threatening conditions or those that can cause serious complications.
We treat these and other emergency medical conditions:
- Abdominal pain that is sudden, chronic or severe
- Appendicitis
- Breathing difficulties, shortness of breath
- Bleeding that is severe or won’t stop
- Blocked or injured airway
- Bone fractures and breaks
- Brain and spinal cord injuries
- Chemical or poison exposure
- Chest pain and other heart attack symptoms
- Choking
- Confusion or difficulty communicating
- Coughing up blood
- Drug or alcohol overdose
- Fainting, dizziness or loss of consciousness
- Gunshot, knife or assault wounds and injuries
- Headaches that are sudden or severe
- Head, neck and chest injuries
- High fever
- Pain that is sudden or severe
- Severe burns
- Severe diarrhea or vomiting
- Stroke symptoms, including slurred speech, paralysis or weakness
- Sudden changes in vision
- Suicidal thoughts or attempted suicide
- Traumatic injury, including blunt or penetrating trauma
For these or other serious conditions, call 911 or be taken immediately to the nearest emergency department.
At Providence, we understand how difficult and distressing medical emergencies can be for family and loved ones. We will keep you informed at every step. Please don’t hesitate to ask your care providers or the staff at our check-in desk if you have questions or concerns.
Upon arrival, a registered nurse provides prompt evaluation. Our care teams treat those who most critically ill or injured first.
In the treatment area, a medical provider may determine whether laboratory, X-ray or other exams are needed. When possible, we complete some of the necessary testing while you are in the waiting room. Once your test results are back, your doctor will advise you about treatment and may follow up with your primary care doctor.
At Providence, you can count on these and other emergency department resources and services:
- Advanced medical imaging and diagnostic testing, with 24/7 lab and evaluation services
- Critical care specialists and intensive care units for sophisticated monitoring and high-level care
- Emergency-trained trauma doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners and other medical staff, with anesthesiologists, neurosurgeons, orthopedic doctors and other specialty surgeons who are always available
- Fast, expert assessment by a triage nurse and doctors with specialty training in emergency medicine
- A trauma physician assistant who closely follows your care to ensure complete, responsive and coordinated services
You are welcome to visit our cafeteria for meals and snacks. Patients should check with their care team before having anything to eat or drink.
Our cafeteria is on Lower Level 3 (LL3). It’s open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Vending machines are located near the cafeteria as well as in the hallway outside the emergency department entrance.
Coffee shops are located throughout the hospital.
For safety and privacy, there is a limit of two visitors per patient in the treatment area. We ask others to wait in the lobby. Depending on the severity of the patients’ injury or illness, visitors may not be allowed at all times. Providence emergency staff will notify family and friends when they can visit.
All visitors must check in with the triage nurse or secretary when entering or reentering the treatment area.
We treat all patients, regardless of financial situation. Our financial department will send you a bill after you are discharged from the emergency department. If other doctors, such as your primary care doctor or a specialist, see you in the emergency department, they will bill you separately for their services.
If you’re not sure about how to pay for medical services, we encourage you to talk to one of our financial counselors. Their offices are located near the emergency department. Ask at the emergency department registration desk for details.
In most cases, Providence will first submit your bill to your insurance company for payment. In this instance, you will receive a statement – not a bill – from Providence that gives you information about services provided.
If you are able to, please drop off your loved ones off at the emergency department entrance and park in our nearby parking garages. There are some spaces outside the emergency department, but our lot is often full. Please be prepared to park in the garages.
We provide a valet 24 hours a day to assist those having medical emergencies or those who have trouble walking and need assistance.
The best way to always be prepared for what we hope will never happen – a bleeding emergency.
Each kit is $40 and contains:
- A compression bandage
- Gauze
- Two pairs of gloves
- A marking pen
- A tourniquet
- An instruction book