December 22, 2014 - An open house for emergency personnel was held on Friday, December 19, 2014 at Nacogdoches Medical Center's new Center Emergency Department's emergency and diagnostic imaging facility.
Representatives from several entities including the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Game Wardens, Center Fire Department, Shelby County Probation Office, ACE EMS, Shelby County Sheriff's Department, Center Police Department, Timpson Volunteer Fire Department, West Shelby County Volunteer Fire Department and Life-Air Rescue took the tour.
Tammy Hanson, the manager of the facility, and Don Radcliff, RN BSN, escorted the representatives through the new facility and introduced them to the different areas of the building.
"This is a fully functioning, freestanding emergency room," said Hanson. She went on to explain there is no difference between the ER and one that is in a hospital, "the difference in the big hospital is what happens after the ER."
Hanson spoke with the officers about such things as legal blood draws and the facility employees look forward to working with them. She said if there are any issues, she has an open door policy toward the emergency personnel.
When the visitors entered, Hanson explained where each side of entrance takes them. The left side is for emergencies and the right side is the diagnostic and imaging center which will be open Monday through Friday. This side will provide CT scan, ultrasound, x-rays, and lab work.
The facility is well staffed and Hanson described how some of the registered nurse schedules, "By daytime this building will be staffed by five RN's and one nurse technician that is an EMT basic. At nighttime it drops one staff member and me I''l drop off, so it will actually have four RN's and one EMT basic. So, we've worked really, really hard to be very adequately staffed," said Hanson.
Hanson told the visitors the hospital is staffed by experienced medical professionals, "The nurses here are very experienced, there is not a brand new nurse in this building, there is not a brand new ER nurse in this building so we can help you. We can help you with anything you need."
The facility is located on Loop 500 in Center and once the facility is open calls to the facility may be directed to 936-657-3030.
Hanson (blue scrubs) speaking with Shelby County Sheriff's Department, Game Wardens, and Shelby County Probation
