Emergency care
Emergency care is the treatment of unexpected, severe medical injuries or infections. It is typically delivered in an emergency room or an ambulance. Our emergency medicine physicians stabilize your condition as quickly as possible to prepare you for the next step of care or discharge.
Emergency room (ER) in Marion, North Carolina
If something feels wrong, you shouldn't have to wait or travel great distances to get the treatment you need.
Emergencies require swift action and expertise. At Mission Hospital McDowell, our highly-trained emergency doctors and nurses are on standby 24/7 to provide critical care with compassion and skill.
Medical airlift services
Our 24/7, regional helicopter service — Mountain Area Medical Airlift (MAMA) — provides transport if you are critically ill or injured within a 150-mile radius of Asheville. This enables our adult and pediatric care teams to get you the life-saving care you need.
Our 24/7, regional helicopter service — Mountain Area Medical Airlift (MAMA) — provides transport if you are critically ill or injured within a 150-mile radius of Asheville. This enables our adult and pediatric care teams to get you the life-saving care you need.
Conditions we treat in our emergency department
It can be difficult to know what constitutes a medical emergency. However, go to the nearest emergency room immediately if you experience any of the following:
- Behavioral health crises
- Broken bones
- Chest pain
- Concussions
- Dangerous insect bites
- Difficulty breathing
- Dizziness
- Head trauma
- Heart attacks
- High fever
- Nausea and vomiting
- Nonhealing wounds
- Organ failure
- Pneumonia
- Poisoning
- Seizures
- Severe abdominal pain
- Severe allergic reactions
- Strokes
- Suspicious insect bites
- Uncontrollable bleeding
Our emergency medical services
The goal in the ER is to quickly, carefully and effectively treat your condition. We encourage you to ask questions, so you have all the information you need during treatment.
Behavioral health treatment
If you or a loved one is experiencing a mental health emergency, such as self-harming behavior, our ER doctors are here to provide evaluation and consultation. If a situation progresses, we bring on the counsel and expertise of Sweeten Creek Mental Health and Wellness Center, located in Asheville, NC. Our emergency department is connected to their staff in the event an admission becomes necessary. Behavioral health issues that should warrant a trip to the ER include:
- Intentional toxic substance ingestion
- Paranoia
- Psychosis
- Suicidal or homicidal feelings
- Self-inflicting wounds
- Worsening depression
Stroke treatment
As a designated Acute Stroke-Ready Hospital, our ER team is equipped to provide rapid stroke care when the need arises, including medications. If you or a loved one has experienced a stroke, we are ready to stabilize you before transporting you to a primary or comprehensive stroke center in the region.
Stroke symptoms can vary, which can make it confusing to know when you need to seek emergency care. This is why we remind people about BEFAST, an acronym that explains stroke symptoms:
- B – Can you keep your balance?
- E – Are your eyes blurry?
- F – Is your face drooping?
- A – Do your arms have weakness or numbness?
- S – Is your speech slurred or confused?
- T – Time to call 911!
About our ER
When you come to us for emergency care, you have access to an array of medical professionals and ER services.
Features of our 24-hour ER
Some of the features of our emergency department include:
- Advanced imaging to detect underlying causes
- Computerized tomography (CT) scans
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
- Nuclear medicine
- Ultrasound
- X-ray
- Cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons
- Chaplains, social workers and case managers
- Emergency medicine doctors and nurses
- Orthopedic surgeons
- Physical, occupational, speech and respiratory therapists
- Radiologists
- Trauma surgeons