Mercy Medical Center presents new Marion emergency room

MARION, Iowa (KCRG) – Mercy Medical Center will showcase its soon-to-open emergency room in Marion. This is the second First Aid to come to Marion this year.

The city hopes to put the new building in the spotlight with a private ribbon cutting on Friday and an open house on Saturday.

It is expected that staff will see as many as 100 people each day. The approximately $1.5 million facility has a variety of features to make patients more comfortable during their visit.

Carefully appointed and spacious waiting room seating and more windows are designed to make the ER more comfortable.

For much of the city’s history, Marion lived without any form of emergency medical services. Combined with the new Emergency Room at Unity Point Health St. Luke’s Hospital, it is a welcome addition for Marion.

“We are underserved as a community because we are growing rapidly and these services have traditionally not existed,” said Marion Mayor Nicolas AbouAssaly.

In the past, people in Marion had to drive about seven miles to get to Cedar Rapids.

“If you have an urgent medical condition, you don’t want to drive long distances,” says Dr. Aucutt, medical director of Mercy Medical Center’s new Marion Emergency Room.

These emergency rooms also provide better alternatives for people in areas like Anamosa, Central City and Mount Vernon.

This is Mercy’s second “freestanding emergency room,” which could help with crowding at other hospitals and clinics in eastern Iowa. The National Institutes of Health calls emergency room overcrowding a “serious health problem.”

“If you look nationally and they are predicting that there will be more and more PR visits,” said Dr. Aucutt. “As the baby boomer generation gets older and sicker and you see more physicians retiring, there is less access to emergency care. “

The emergency room is expected to open on December 2.