GHH to Celebrate Opening of Emergency Department for Wichita's East Side

Galichia Heart Hospital will open the East Side’s first full-service, level III emergency department in early June.

A public open house will be held at the hospital from 2 to 4 p.m. on May 21, 2006, complete with hamburgers, hot dogs, snacks and drinks. B98’s Brett Harris will be on hand, broadcasting live.

The new Emergency Department will serve all areas of medical need.

“We’re set up to handle pretty much anything that comes our way,” said Emergency Services Coordinator Jo Clepper, RN, BSN, CCRN.

“Of course, the hospital has a reputation for cardiac expertise,” said ER Medical Director Ted Cook, M.D., “but over the past few years, Galichia has transitioned into a facility with a broad cross section of specialties, allowing us to operate a truly full-service emergency department. We’ll see everyone from newborns to centenarians.”

The new ER boasts many unique touches, like cable TV in treatment rooms and a specially decorated pediatric room.

The department has separate public and ambulance entrances and is just a few steps away from the hospital’s laboratory, Respiratory Therapy Department and 64-slice CT scanner.

With a comprehensive system of standing medical protocols in place, the department is set up to perform fast triage and care.

“We’ll perform bedside registration,” said Clepper, “so patients can provide their admittance information privately.”

The ER has 14 rooms, including eight private, two large-scale high-acuity, one pediatric, and six curtained-off cubicles for observation and fast-track patients.

The department will be staffed by unit clerks; emergency room technicians, many of whom are paramedics; and highly trained RNs, most of whom have both ER and ICU experience. “We’ve also hired a PICU nurse who will oversee pediatric training for the rest of the staff,” said Clepper.

A low patient-to-nurse ratio will allow staff to provide excellent patient care.

The department’s medical staff is contracted from Emergency Services of Kansas.

“It’s a great facility, an outstanding staff—and a much needed resource for the East Side,” said Cook.

Galichia Heart Hospital is a full-service medical facility with a staff of physicians specializing in cardiology, interventional cardiology, diagnostic radiology, nephrology, emergency medicine, nuclear cardiology, electrophysiology, interventional vascular medicine, gastroenterology, orthopedics, general surgery, sleep disorders, internal medicine, family practice and endocrinology.