SYRACUSE, Utah — Ashley Alder didn’t expect a fun evening ride around her neighborhood on an electric scooter would end the way it did on Monday.
“I was on the back of this electric scooter with my 12-year-old son on the front,” said Alder. “We went off of the curb and crashed.”
Alder, who’s lived in Syracuse for ten years, says her son was not hurt, but her shoulder took the brunt of their fall.
“The next day I went to work and my shoulder just got worse and worse,” she added.
After visiting a couple of urgent cares in the area that she says didn’t take her insurance, Alder said, “I remembered the new ER in Syracuse that just opened up and stopped in there and they got me right in for x-rays.”
On Thursday, MountainStar Healthcare publicly celebrated the opening of the Syracuse Emergency Center with a ribbon cutting and community event.
“This is a pivotal and exciting time to live and work in Syracuse,” said Mayor Dave Maughan, from the podium. “The decisions we make now about our city will impact generations to come, and bringing services like this closer to home is absolutely the right decision.”
The ER facility was built to address the population growth experienced in portions of western Davis and Weber Counties, including in and around Syracuse, West Point, Clearfield, Clinton and Roy.
Former Syracuse City Councilwoman, Lisa Bingham, says the project has been two years in the making.
“We have tremendous growth in the city and because of tremendous growth, we have tremendous needs,” said Bingham.
Bingham says the city population is currently 30-35,000 but is projected to be 60,000 when Syracuse is all built out.
“When the hospital came and said they were willing to build here, we were thrilled because we knew that we needed another emergency response center and we knew that this is a perfect place for it,” she added.
The Syracuse Emergency Center, a freestanding emergency room (FSER), provides comprehensive, hospital-based emergency services.
It is fully equipped and staffed 24/7 by experienced, board-certified physicians from Ogden Regional Medical Center.
The facility includes 11 patient exam rooms and comprehensive laboratory and imaging services, including CT scans, X-rays and ultrasounds.
“Acute injuries, trauma, heart conditions like heart attacks or heart arrhythmias, strokes, you know, things where time is of the essence for care. It's very important to have that access,” said Dr. Bo Poulson, an ER physician and the medical director for Ogden Regional Medical Center. “[The FSER] is an emergent access point for patients to come to and get emergent care stabilization and ultimately be treated and sent home, or we will treat them and get them admitted to the appropriate facility.”
If a patient’s medical needs call for it, once stabilized, they can be transported to a full-service hospital to obtain the subspecialty and definitive care they need.
Dr. Poulson says a facility like this should put parents and families at ease.
“I think for a growing community to have the access to healthcare, you know, that's just peace of mind for you and your family, knowing that if daily life comes against you, you have the capability and to get somewhere and get the treatment that you need,” he said.
Battalion Chief Corey Bybee with the Syracuse Fire Department says minutes and seconds count in a life-saving scenario.
“Our closest facility transport times, depending on where you're at in the city, can be up to ten minutes. And now with this facility, that can cut it down depending on where we're at from probably two to five minutes,” said Battalion Chief Bybee.
While Alder’s injury wasn’t severe this time, she said, “It is nice to have [an ER] that's close by, that can give you peace of mind."
The new emergency center is located at 323 S 2000 W, Syracuse, UT 84075.
For more information about the project, visit their website here or contact the facility directly at calling (385) 383-2100.
