Emergency care

Open 24/7 for all your emergency care needs, our ER offers award-winning emergency care for our community, including:

• Board-certified emergency doctors and pediatricians
• Experienced emergency nurses and pediatric nurses
• On-call specialists for life-threatening injuries and illnesses
• Rapid response programs for patients experiencing a heart attack or stroke (cerebrovascular accident)
• Pediatric-friendly ER with kid-sized medical equipment and cheerful private rooms to help calm our pediatric patients
• AirLife Denver helicopter services ready to transport stable patients from our ER to a Level I Trauma Center
• Collaboration with local emergency medical services (EMS) to ensure fast lifesaving treatment
• State-of-the-art diagnostic imaging and laboratory services

We are committed to providing high-quality emergency care for our community. We ensure you get the emergency care you need by offering a variety of specialty services across all of our North Denver ER locations, including our main campus, the HCA HealthONE Northeast ER and the HCA HealthONE Northwest ER.

Cardiac treatment

As part of our heart care program, we have one of the best records in the U.S. for getting our patients lifesaving procedures for heart attacks quickly. The national standard for treatment time set by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association is 90 minutes, beginning when the patient enters the ER. The national average is 122 minutes. We consistently beat these averages.

Stroke treatment

At our hospital, patients experiencing a stroke receive prompt, coordinated treatment from a team of neurologists and specially trained nurses and technicians. Our facility uses the most innovative telemedicine technology to coordinate with the neurosciences department at HCA HealthONE Swedish. This allows us to bring advanced stroke care, right to your room.

Level II Trauma Center

Our ER is a Level II Trauma Center, which means we can offer you complete care for advanced traumatic injuries, 24/7. Our experts are specially trained for these situations, and we are equipped to provide you with the expert trauma care you need.

If you are in our hospital and something does not feel right to you, you can activate what we refer to as "Condition H." This alerts an emergency medical team to come to your bedside immediately. To do this, simply dial "0" on your room phone and tell the hospital operator that you are calling for a Condition H and let them know your room number.

If you have a condition that, without treatment, may cause you serious discomfort or complications, go to the closest ER as soon as possible.

Symptoms or conditions that should be treated in an ER include:

• Abdominal pain
• Broken bones
• Chest pain
• Concussion or head trauma
• Emergency behavioral health issues
• Heart attack
• Open wounds
• Severe allergic reaction
• Stroke (cerebrovascular accident)
• Trouble breathing

For more information, you can also view our guide on when to go to the ER.

When to take your child to the ER

If you think your child may need to go to the ER and your doctor's office is closed (on evenings or weekends), call our free pediatric nurse advice line at any time.

ER vs. urgent care

Figuring out whether you or a loved one needs emergency care or urgent care may not be easy, especially if symptoms appear serious.

Urgent care centers typically provide treatment for commonplace sicknesses and injuries, such as flu symptoms and ankle sprains. Most urgent care clinics, however, are not able to treat some of the more serious conditions listed above.

If you are unsure if you need to go to the ER, review our helpful guide on when to go to an ER or urgent care.