The emergency department at Bellevue Medical Center has now treated more than 11,000 patients since opening in mid May. “The demand for local emergency services was one of the driving factors in the decision to build the hospital,” says Martin T. Carmody, CEO at Bellevue Medical Center. That demand, Carmody said, is higher than anticipated with volumes exceeding expectations by nearly 25 percent.
The twelve bed emergency department has two trauma rooms, seven treatment rooms and three clinical decision rooms.
The emergency department, which is open 24 hours a day - seven days a week, attributes about 20 percent of its volume to patients brought in by rescue squads from Bellevue and the surrounding area.
Shari Lentsch, ASEMS, NREMT-P, Supervisor for Emergency Medical Services with the Bellevue Fire Department, estimates that her department’s rescue squads alone bring about 37 patients a week to Bellevue Medical Center.
“Having a hometown hospital benefits the community in a number of ways,” says Lentsch. “Not only does it allow for very short transport times, which in some cases can mean the difference between life or death, but it keeps our Medic Units in town and available for calls.”
The other 80 percent of patients who come to the Emergency Department at Bellevue Medical Center are primarily walk-ins, or patients that arrived by their own means of transportation.
Ken Schmidt sought emergency care at Bellevue Medical Center on July 8. As a retired member of the Air Force, Ken had initially called the Ehrling Bergquist Clinic with his symptoms. There, a clinic nurse told him to seek help at the medical center immediately.
“We were told Ken’s appendix had ruptured and if left untreated, he may have died,” said Ken’s wife Nancy. “The emergency doctor was amazing. Ken was in surgery within two hours. I had never seen a hospital move that quickly.”
Ken spent three days in the hospital recovering after his surgery. “The staff was so good to him,” said Nancy. “They treated him like he was a member of their own family. That really meant a lot to me since I couldn’t spend every hour of every day at the hospital with Ken. But that was okay, because I knew he was in good hands.”
"All things considered, I couldn't have asked for a better experience," said Ken.”My follow-up with the doctors and nurses has also been remarkable. The treatment offered by all personnel from the doctors, nurses and technicians, to food preparation and delivery, and the housekeeping staff was top notch."
Thomas Cheatle, MD, Director of Emergency Services at Bellevue Medical Center says, in the six months since opening, the emergency department has treated a variety of patients including those with minor scrapes and burns to more serious patients suffering from a heart attack or stroke. “Nothing’s unexpected in the emergency department,” says Cheatle. “The only way to be prepared for anything is to plan for everything,”
In addition to the high emergency department volumes the hospital is already expanding to meet the community’s needs for its other services. Bellevue Medical Center recently completed construction of an additional 36 private inpatient rooms and opened a physician’s clinic in the campus’s medical office building.
Carmody says that having a first class facility is only part of the equation. “We have an experienced staff that has really come together well to meet the surrounding area’s demand for quality medical services”, he said. “We’re focused on working as a team, with our physicians, to provide a quality, safe experience for each patient that chooses Bellevue Medical Center.”
In addition to treating more than 11,000 patients in its Emergency Department since it opened six months ago, Bellevue Medical Center has provided care in the following areas:
(Statistics Updated 12/12)
- CT Exams = 4,116
- MRI Exams = 898
- Nuclear Medicine Exams = 231
- Ultrasound Exams = 1,287
- Mammography Exams = 738
- Neurodiagnostic Exams = 91
- Diagnostic Radiology Exams = 7,179
- Surgical and Cath/IR Procedures = 1,128
