When Western North Carolina patients need to decide where to receive emergency care, they can check current ER wait times via text-messaging on their phones. Today, Park Ridge Health announced that it is now offering ER wait times to the public through a text-messaging system. The wait times can also be accessed online via Park Ridge’s website. It is the first health care organization in WNC to provide this service. See the full announcement below:
From the press release from Park Ridge Health:
Park Ridge Health is the first health care organization in Western North Carolina to share Emergency Department wait times with the public through the mobile texting service ER Texting, Inc. Residents of Western North Carolina can now text their ZIP code to 4ER411 (437411) to receive a reply with the approximate time they can expect to wait to see a physician or nurse practitioner in the Park Ridge Health Emergency Department. To-the-minute wait times can also be obtained online at www.prher.com.
Stuart Scott, Director of the Emergency Department at Park Ridge Health, notes, “A trip to the emergency room is by nature no fun, and in publishing our wait times, we hope to ease apprehension about waiting. There’s nothing worse than waiting when you are sick or in pain. Now, residents of Henderson, Buncombe, Polk and Rutherford counties can be immediately informed of wait times before choosing where to seek emergency care.”
About Park Ridge Health:
Park Ridge Health was built by Henderson County residents, and more than 100 years later is still a beloved piece of our growing community’s health care network, providing quality, compassionate care in a Christian environment. In 1986, Park Ridge Health partnered with Adventist Health System, joining a family of more than 43 exceptional not-for-profit community hospitals across the country. Leading the way in many medical firsts for the region – including state-of-the-art surgery suites, a boutique baby delivery experience and North Carolina’s first 64-slice CT scanner in 2006 – Park Ridge Health provides personalized care throughout the region, offering a network of nearly 80 family and specialty physicians, nationally accredited cancer services, a comprehensive wound care and hyperbaric center and full-service orthopedic care. For more information about Park Ridge Health or to find a physician, please visit http://www.parkridgehealth.org or call 855.PRH.LIFE (855.774.5433).
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