Emergency Care

Emergency Services in Henderson & Morganfield

The Emergency Department provides care to all age groups, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year in a 17 bed unit on the first floor of Methodist Health in Henderson. We are a professional, compassionate, highly skilled team that is continuously growing and adapting to meet the healthcare needs of the communities we serve. We maintain high standards of patient care through continuing education, effective communication and team work. We strive to provide an atmosphere of excellence through staff responsibility, accountability and autonomy. Nursing staff are required to complete ACLS, PALS, and TNCC courses, and obtaining a Certified Emergency Nurse (CEN) certification is strongly encouraged.

Level IV Trauma Center (Morganfield)

In 2015, Methodist Health in Morganfield was designated as a Level IV Trauma Center. The purpose of a trauma system is to help ensure that patients receive the right care, at the right place, at the right time. Nearly 45 million Americans do not have access to a Level I or Level II trauma center within one hour of being injured. The appropriate care can help people continue to live to their full potential, despite having experienced a catastrophic injury. A complete trauma system is made up of multiple facilities with different levels of care. The levels of care vary between Level I and Level IV. Level IV facilities are predominantly found in small communities in rural areas. The ultimate goal is for the trauma system to function as a team to get all critically injured patients to the appropriate level of care. It is widely believed that the critically injured patients’ chances of survival are greatest if he or she receives definitive care within the first hour.

For rural hospitals like Methodist Health in Morganfield, being part of a trauma system helps the people of our community have access to larger trauma centers more rapidly. Rapid assessment and early recognition of a need for a higher level of care play a vital role in getting critically injured patients to definitive care. In an effort to provide the citizens of our community with the best outcome possible when a traumatic event occurs, it is necessary for us to assume our role in Kentucky’s rapidly growing trauma system.

When to Visit the Emergency Room

You may have heard of urgent care before and wondered what makes it different from emergency care. The main distinction is that urgent care is not equipped to handle life threatening conditions or catastrophic injuries.

You should visit the emergency room if you experience:

• Difficulty breathing or tightness in the chest
• Sudden blurred vision or slurred speech
• Unexplained behavioral changes
• Broken bones
• Head or spine injuries
• Passing out
• Electrical shocks or severe burns
• Seizures
• Poisoning
• Suicidal thoughts

If you believe you are having an emergency, call 911 immediately. Operators can give you initial instructions on what to do and dispatch help. The ambulance service is the fastest way to get to the emergency department. We have strategically placed our dispatch centers to traverse Henderson and Morganfield as quickly as possible.