As economic conditions change, the Emergency Department becomes the place where many people turn to receive care for minor or routine primary care services. Unfortunately, this added responsibility utilizes the most expensive care resource for routine care and stresses our facility’s capacity to deliver prompt care for everyone.

Triage, the process of evaluating the urgency and type of treatment an individual patient requires as well as prioritization of patients requiring life/limb interventions over those who can safely wait for treatment, becomes paramount in delivering quality care.

Several facility improvements have been identified at Akron General Medical Center to improve the triage process. The location of the Emergency triage service to the "front door" will provide adequate space for the triage team, including an emergency medicine physician, plus medication room and minor treatment areas. The goal is to reduce the amount of time from door to treatment for all patients seen.

Included are computer and equipment additions and cross training of staff to facilitate rapid turnover. Completion of the renovated triage service is anticipated in early summer of 2009 at a cost of $750,000.

Also benefiting from 2009 Annual Appeal contributions is the new Emergency Department at the Akron General Health & Wellness Center – West in West Akron. The plan for a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week facility was the culmination of years of study and planning. Added to the uniqueness of this new facility is the partnership with Akron Children’s Hospital to provide pediatric emergency care.

The new Emergency Department will feature the latest in medical technology, efficient facility design and separation of urgent and true emergent care services. Children’s specialists working in spaces designed by Akron Children’s Hospital will provide a comforting and supportive environment for young patients.

Studies of the community, its population demographics and the distance to the closest available emergency medicine department clearly demonstrated the services necessary to meet health care needs, the necessity of short-term observation services and the appropriate number of treatment beds for the new facility.

The new Emergency Department at the Akron General Health & Wellness Center – West will house 25 treatment areas, 4 dedicated to children and 13 designed for adults, a distinct major trauma unit and two triage areas. Plans also include 8 short-term observation beds to stabilize and evaluate patients for further care. Cost of the construction and equipment for the project is approximately $9 million.

Emergency Department