Our Services

Emergency Services

Always on Call.

With more than 74,000 emergency department visits annually, CHRISTUS Hospital-St. Elizabeth and St. Mary are the regional leaders in emergency medical services in Southeast Texas. In addition, both hospitals are designated Trauma Centers.

Our emergency department (ED) staff includes board-certified Emergency Physicians and specially-trained nurses who are certified in Advanced Cardiac Life Support. These professionals work as a team with emergency medical technicians, respiratory therapists, radiology technicians and other medical support staff. In addition, physicians who specialize in trauma medicine, surgery, cardiology, orthopedics and many other areas are on call to the ED.

Interpreters are available for patients or family members who do not speak English.

Our Emergency Departments have a special purpose – to provide immediate and appropriate care to the seriously injured and seriously ill. We’re here to save lives and we want to be ready when and if you need us.

Triage (Medical Screening Exams)

Across the nation, hospital emergency departments (ED) are experiencing an increasing number of non-urgent visits to the emergency room. In Southeast Texas, CHRISTUS Hospital – St. Elizabeth and St. Mary are also facing this challenge.

Approximately 70 percent of the visits to the emergency room at CHRISTUS Hospital–St. Elizabeth and St. Mary are non-emergent, meaning they do not require care within 15 minutes of arrival.

In order to ensure that our ED can be more effectively utilized for people seeking immediate medical attention, each patient is given a medical screening examination to determine the nature and severity of their illness. Individuals with a true medical emergency, serious illnesses, or other high-risk factors are seen by a physician more rapidly than those with less severe symptoms or injuries.

Medical screening exams are administered by qualified health care professionals. Everyone that comes to the emergency room will have an exam to determine whether an emergency medical condition exists.

With the medical screening process in place at St. Elizabeth and St. Mary, patients will continue to be seen in order of the severity of illness. These exams enable us to focus our efforts in the emergency room towards seriously injured and seriously ill patients.

If following evaluation and medical screening, a patient’s condition does not appear to be an emergency, the patient will be referred, or provided information for follow-up care, to their physician or to a clinic such as the CHRISTUS Minor Care Center or the Gulf Coast Health Center.

Never ignore chest pain

One symptom that should never be ignored is chest pain.

This year, more than 1.2 million people will have a first or repeat heart attack. About 500,000 of these people won’t survive – many will die in an ER or before they even reach a hospital. It’s safe to say that many heart attack victims who didn’t make it felt some of the common warning signs…and many ignored or denied them.

To respond to patients who arrive at the hospital with chest pain, CHRISTUS Hospital-St. Elizabeth and St. Mary have initiated a Cardiac Alert Plan. This system can eliminate delays in the patient’s treatment, ultimately preserving his/her life and/or heart muscle function.

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Convenient, free parking is available at all CHRISTUS Hospital—St. Elizabeth and St. Mary locations, and complimentary valet parking is available at St. Elizabeth's main entrance.