The day I interviewed for my job at Eureka Springs Hospital in December 2021, big things were happening at the facility. Our CEO, Angie, walked me out and gave me an impromptu tour of the emergency room, which was being completely renovated.
I said hello to a woman with short, curly hair — I would later learn this was Becky, our maintenance director — and she took a brief break from her work to return the greeting. It was a work in progress, but I could tell everything would look great when it was finished. And just a couple of months into the job, my prediction came true.
The emergency room was completely updated, with newly painted blue walls and freshly installed flooring throughout the area, as well as beautiful, dark brown cabinetry in the patient rooms. Becky and her team also updated the restroom in the waiting room.
Today, our ER patients receive quality treatment in those rooms with modern cabinetry and blue walls. Our emergency room is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year. We take our emergency care seriously – our emergency room is always staffed with continually-trained nurses and doctors.
Our hospital is stroke- and trauma- certified — the only hospital in Carroll County to boast these certifications. In fact, our facility and individual staff members have received several awards from UAMS for our faster-than-average door-toneedle time.
Time is the most important thing when someone experiences a stroke. The sooner you know the signs and symptoms and get to our ER, the better your chances for recovery. And the moment a stroke patient comes through our door, our staff acts fast to ensure they receive the life-saving measures they need.
Many of you know our Rural Emergency Hospital designation meant we eliminated our long-term inpatient care. Since then, I’ve heard people say they don’t want to come to a hospital just to get sent to a larger facility. But no matter our designation, our responsibility as a rural hospital has always been to assess patients to determine their next steps for recovery.
Today, we have three options for these next steps: keep patients overnight for a short-term inpatient stay, transfer patients to a larger facility or discharge patients to recover at home. During a medical event such as a stroke, it is especially important to have a stroke- and trauma- certified emergency room right down the street.
I call all our patients the day they leave our emergency room to check on them and ensure they received quality care. Most times, they ask me to thank their care team for personalized, empathetic care. Sometimes, they give constructive criticism we use to get better at what we’re doing.
Every time, I thank them for trusting us to care for them. We’ve made some changes over the past year, but nothing will ever change our dedication to provide quality, 24/7/365 emergency care for our community.
We call ourselves the hospital with a heart, and it’s true. Our heart beats for Carroll County, and I’m talking about all of you.
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Samantha Jones is marketing director for Eureka Springs Hospital. You can reach her by calling 479253-7400 ext. 4802 or emailing Samantha.Jones@EurekaSpringsHospital.
com.
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