Health emergencies can be stressful. So when you seek emergency services at Lakewood Ranch Medical Center (LWRMC), we do more than provide you with comprehensive and potentially life-saving care. We designed our Emergency Services Center and developed a cohesive emergency team to make sure you have the best experience possible when an emergency strikes.

Emergency physicians, nurses, ER technicians, registration representatives and community emergency medical personnel work together to care for patients facing emergency or urgent situations. Patients and their family members also are part of the team.

"Our team approach is what sets us apart from other hospitals. Our team members coordinate their efforts to streamline and enhance emergency care for all of our patients," says Jean Marie Lucas, ARNP, MSN, MBA, Director of Critical Care Services at LWRMC. "Some of our nurses voluntarily participate in ‘ride-alongs' with the Sarasota County EMS [Emergency Medical Services] to see firsthand what conditions and situations EMS workers encounter in the field. The ride-alongs help nurses provide even better care to patients and strengthen our relationships with emergency personnel who transport patients to LWRMC."

Prompt Care Is a Priority
The center's board-certified physicians work in cooperation with nurses and other in-house specialists to diagnose patients' conditions, assess treatment options and provide the level of care patients need as quickly as possible. This team approach means you usually won't face a long and frustrating wait when you visit the Emergency Services Center.

"We work quickly to get patients from the waiting room into a treatment area as soon as possible because we don't want patients who are sick or in pain to wait unnecessarily," Lucas says. "We offer bedside registration and try to minimize the wait time for all our patients regardless of how sick they are. We only triage patients when all the rooms are full."

Staff at the Emergency Services Center focus on providing efficient service and admitting and/or releasing patients as quickly as possible while delivering high-quality care. They treat children and adults with many types of medical problems, including heart attacks, strokes, respiratory problems, injuries from falls and motor vehicle accidents, back pain, migraines, abdominal pain, acute eye conditions, cuts, abrasions, infections, etc.

The center, which is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, features sophisticated technology and:

• 13 private rooms
• Two major resuscitation rooms
• Two private triage rooms
• An 8-bed clinical decision unit

To learn more, please visit our Web site at www.lakewoodranchmedicalcenter.com or please call the center at 941-782-2200. For more information about common emergencies, please visit www.lakewoodranchmedicalcenter.com and click on Health Information in the left column. Under Library on the left side of the next page, click on Diseases & Conditions, then click on the letter E and Emergency Care.

Seek Care for Common Emergencies
Please call 911 if you or someone with you suffers any of these common medical emergencies:

• Chest pain
• Shortness of breath
• Uncontrolled bleeding
• Severe abdominal pain
• Confusion
• Loss of consciousness
• Serious burns or cuts
• Seizures
• Slurred speech or sudden paralysis
• Broken bones
• Poisoning