HURRICANE — Hurricane residents have dreamed for a long time what it would be like if they had a medical emergency and neither had to drive 20-plus minutes nor take a long transport to St. George Regional Medical Center.
After the ribbon was cut on Wednesday and Intermountain Health’s Hurricane Emergency Department opened, that dream became a reality.
Current Hurricane Mayor Nanette Billings and former Mayor John Brammal were on hand as the emergency department on the campus of the Hurricane Clinic at 75 N. 2260 West opened its doors for the first time after ground was broken more than two years ago.
But Billings said the dream took longer than that.
“It’s been years in the making,” Billings said. “It’s been a distant dream and something on the horizon for the last 10 years for sure.”
The ER, opening in phases over the next week, will be open 24/7 and is considered a satellite emergency room of St. George Regional Hospital. But being new, staff on site were quick to mention features of the Hurricane ER that they don’t have 16 miles away including advanced trauma services, state-of-the-art telehealth hook-ups and a decontamination area.
St.George News attended a tour of the facility just hours before a special open house to the public Wednesday night.
Intermountain Health officials said the emergency department is the first stand-alone ER of its kind in their entire system and will be a model for what is to come. That includes a similar stand-alone emergency department at Desert Color/SunRiver in St. George for which ground is expected to be broken early next year.
There are no patient rooms, and any primary care might be reserved for the adjacent Instacare built five years ago. However, a hallway leads to a sign noting a future Phase 2 in the long-term future that will include inpatient services and possibly patient rooms like a full hospital campus. The infrastructure in the engineering guts of the emergency department is already in place for such an expansion.
In an aggressive local expansion, Intermountain is also building an additional medical clinic in Washington Fields to join similar primary doctor centers on Sunset Boulevard and River Road in St. George.
Staff said most emergencies in areas like Hurricaine, LaVerkin and Toquerville that used to be transported to St. George Regional will instead come to the Hurricane ER. However, patients with critical injuries and require immediate surgery will mostly still head to St. George.
A helipad can be utilized by Intermountain Life Flight or other medical helicopter transport at the new facility.
However, some tools might make ER doctors and nurses on River Road jealous, including an advanced trauma room with state-of-the-art equipment to treat the most critical injuries that come in. However, Hurricane will still be considered a Level 3 trauma center, a step below the Level 2 status of St. George Regional hospital.
Also in a sign of the recent pandemic times, there is a dedicated decontamination room – something is in a trailer at St. George Regional, though there are plans to have a similar room there in the near future.
“We catch everything,” Steven Rossberg, an emergency management coordinator for Intermountain Health, said of the room designed to decontaminate those exposed to harmful substances. “This has built-in showers and the drain goes to a tank where we capture all the water.”
Another feature that puts Hurricane a step ahead is more advanced telecommunications and telehealth equipment, with cameras and two-way high-speed visual communication that will allow doctors, nurses and staff from other Intermountain facilities to help with the patients and the pharmacy in Hurricane.
Scroll ahead to look at a photo tour of the new facility, as well as a video accompanying this article.
Photo Gallery
A sign outside the Intermountain Health Hurricane Campus, Hurricane, Utah, Oct. 25, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News Emergency sign outside the new Emergency Department at Intermountain Health Hurricane Campus, Hurricane, Utah, Oct. 25, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News Emergency sign outside the new Emergency Department at Intermountain Health Hurricane Campus, Hurricane, Utah, Oct. 25, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News Washington County Commissioner Victor Iverson speaks during the opening of the new Emergency Department at Intermountain Health Hurricane Campus, Hurricane, Utah, Oct. 25, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News Dignitaries at the opening of the new Emergency Department at Intermountain Health Hurricane Campus, Hurricane, Utah, Oct. 25, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News Crowd at the opening of the new Emergency Department at Intermountain Health Hurricane Campus, Hurricane, Utah, Oct. 25, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News Crowd at the opening of the new Emergency Department at Intermountain Health Hurricane Campus, Hurricane, Utah, Oct. 25, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News Hurricane Mayor Nanette Billings speaks during the opening of the new Emergency Department at Intermountain Health Hurricane Campus, Hurricane, Utah, Oct. 25, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News A staff member preps one of the exam rooms at the new emergency department at the Intermountain Health Hurricane Campus, Hurricane, Utah, Oct. 25, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News Crowd at an evening open house of the new Emergency Department at Intermountain Health Hurricane Campus, Hurricane, Utah, Oct. 25, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News Outside the new Emergency Department at Intermountain Health Hurricane Campus, Hurricane, Utah, Oct. 25, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News The lobby of new Emergency Department at Intermountain Health Hurricane Campus, complete with Intermountain Health's new logo, Hurricane, Utah, Oct. 25, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News Most incoming patients to the new Emergency Department at Intermountain Health Hurricane Campus will have their vitals taken and assessed in an initial triage area, Hurricane, Utah, Oct. 25, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News Laura Murdock, right, marketing specialist for Intermountain Health, shows off the food pantry, which may not be a cafeteria but serves to provide nutrition for those who have extended stays in the ER and their families at the the new Emergency Department at Intermountain Health Hurricane Campus, Hurricane, Utah, Oct. 25, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News. The main desk and hub of the new emergency room at the Intermountain Health Hurricane Campus, Hurricane, Utah, Oct. 25, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News One of the many exam rooms inside the new Emergency Department at Intermountain Health Hurricane Campus, Hurricane, Utah, Oct. 25, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News A hallway inside the new Emergency Department at Intermountain Health Hurricane Campus leads to a sign noting a future phase two in the long-term future that will include impatient services and possibly patient rooms like a full hospital campus. The infrastructure in the engineering guts of the emergency department is already in place for such an expansion, Hurricane, Utah, Oct. 25, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News The pharmacy inside the new Emergency Department at Intermountain Health Hurricane Campus includes telehealth links that will allow orders to and from other Intermountain facilities, Hurricane, Utah, Oct. 25, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News An advanced trauma room inside the new Emergency Department at Intermountain Health Hurricane Campus is designed to deal with the most critical injuries, Hurricane, Utah, Oct. 25, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News Technicians work inside the lab room of the new Emergency Department at Intermountain Health Hurricane Campus is designed to deal with the most critical injuries, Hurricane, Utah, Oct. 25, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News Advanced MRI and x-ray imaging equipment is part of the new Emergency Department at Intermountain Health Hurricane Campus, Hurricane, Utah, Oct. 25, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News Advanced MRI and x-ray imaging equipment is part of the new Emergency Department at Intermountain Health Hurricane Campus, Hurricane, Utah, Oct. 25, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News A dedicated decontamination room is part of the new Emergency Department at Intermountain Health Hurricane Campus, Hurricane, Utah, Oct. 25, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News One of the many exam rooms inside the new Emergency Department at Intermountain Health Hurricane Campus, Hurricane, Utah, Oct. 25, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News Steven Rossberg, an emergency management coordinator for Intermountain Health, outside the decontamination room of the new Emergency Department at Intermountain Health Hurricane Campus, Hurricane, Utah, Oct. 25, 2023 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News
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