Emergency Center Overview

While 90 percent of emergency room patients do not need to spend the night in a hospital, such facilities in central Ohio and across the country are faced with overcrowding. Yoder says, “Wait times are a huge issue” the center is built to avoid, he says. The system suggests those with minor ailments go first to their doctor or to an urgent care center rather than the Emergency Care Center.

Still, Halpin says, the numbers of seriously ill or injured and the numbers of those with minor illness or injury are increasing at the same levels, despite the widespread notion that the crowds are caused by growing numbers with minor issues using emergency rooms as doctor’s offices.

The center is moving into the high-tech age with call-ahead registration, which allows for the use of smart phones, and a free Emergency Care Center app to facilitate it. Incoming patients can use the app to submit a short form detailing symptoms, basic personal information and other pertinent details while en route so the staff will be ready when they arrive.

An app might be overly cumbersome for someone afflicted with serious injury or illness, but in those cases, it’s more likely to be used by physicians sending patients for more testing, Halpin says. OhioHealth’s electronic medical records will allow treating physicians and others with legitimate access to the system to get up-to-date patient information throughout testing or treatment. “Personal doctors can be part of the decision-making,” she explains, adding that patient information is not available from other such systems or sent to them. “There’s no shared access in the United States” as there is in other countries, she says.

Dr. Thomas J. Gavin will be medical director, and Steven A. Taylor will be administrative nurse manager. Both, along with Halpin – herself an OhioHealth employee for 20 years – are Westerville residents. The medical staff is employed by Mid-Ohio Emergency Services, which operates emergency departments at OhioHealth’s Grant, Riverside and Dublin Methodist hospitals.

The center will add 100 employees, including up to 25 physicians, nurse