When a sudden health emergency strikes, patients and their loved ones want to know they can count on receiving the best possible care — care that is timely, effective and competent. In 1993, NHCS introduced a new concept in emergency medical care. One that combines compassionate care with innovation and state-of-the-art technology. One that successfully merges these components together in a unique concept which provides a continuum of care that is unexcelled. One that is emulated in emergency rooms across the southeastern United States.

We call it the Emergency Care Center (ECC).

From the design of the building to the selection of equipment to the positioning of staff, everything about the ECC focuses on responding to the needs of the patient. The central nurses station, situated on a raised platform, is encircled by 11 monitored patient treatment rooms. This layout provides for constant visual contact between the patient and the nurses station. As a result, the patient never feels left alone or forgotten.

In addition to the treatment rooms, the Emergency Care Center features four major trauma rooms, six rooms for minor emergencies and two rooms designated for patients with fractured or broken bones. These 23 total treat­ment rooms are configured to separate treatment areas of patients with severe trauma from those with less serious needs.

To accommodate the growing number of patients seeking treatment, we added five treatment rooms to our main Emergency Care Center in 2006. In addition, we have opened a satellite treatment area consisting of ten rooms. The addition of these 15 treatment rooms provides a total of 38 treatment rooms and allows us the flexibility to group patients according to medical need.

When a person has been seri­ously injured, seconds count. That’s why the ECC’s trauma rooms are equipped with x-ray equipment... an innovation that bypasses the need to send patients to a separate radiol­ogy department and provides physicians and staff with immediate access to informa­tion necessary for diagnosis and treatment.

Further, the ECC houses its own diagnostic radiology suite with an assigned staff. Our diagnostic suite even includes its own CT scanner. When seconds count, these often unnoticed features can make the critical difference.