Contributed by EAMC
The East Alabama Medical Center Freestanding Emergency Department — part of the Auburn Medical Pavilion in the Auburn Research Park — began operation on Wednesday, June 23 at 7 a.m. The 12-bed, Level III trauma center offers patients another option for emergency services in the region, joining the emergency departments at East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika and EAMC-Lanier in Valley. This is just the sixth freestanding emergency department in Alabama, with three in the Birmingham area and two in the Mobile/Baldwin County area.
The new freestanding emergency department (FED) is located at 900 Camp Auburn Road, near the intersection of Shug Jordan Parkway and South College Street in Auburn. The FED is located on the first floor of the building and is joined on that floor by diagnostic radiology services, a laboratory and a pharmacy for use with emergency patients. Outpatient radiology and laboratory services will also be available Monday through Friday, as will a retail pharmacy called East Alabama Apothecary.
A freestanding emergency department is a licensed facility that provides emergency care in a facility that is structurally separate from the hospital. Although the East Alabama Medical Center Freestanding Emergency Department is not physically connected to East Alabama Medical Center, ambulance transport will be available should a patient arrive there and need to be admitted to the hospital. Patients at the Freestanding Emergency Department will be seen by the same emergency medicine physicians who practice in the Emergency Departments at East Alabama Medical Center and EAMC-Lanier.
“It is so exciting to extend our emergency services into the Auburn area to better serve our communities,” said Amy Brandon, East Alabama Health Emergency Department executive director. “This campus will also provide level-three trauma care with the same skilled physicians, nurses and support staff as our other two emergency department campuses in Opelika and Valley. We are thankful for this beautiful facility in Auburn that provides 12 additional exam rooms to our service.”
The FED has an ambulance bay as well as a helicopter landing pad. In addition, sexual assault victims may seek special care here through the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE) program. A SANE nurse provides care for patients needing this service and is able to conduct a forensics kit that can be used in a criminal investigation.
About the Auburn Medical Pavilion:
Located at 900 Camp Auburn Road in Auburn, the Auburn Medical Pavilion is home to the East Alabama Medical Center Freestanding Emergency Department (1st floor, opening June 2021), the East Alabama Ambulatory Surgery Center (2nd floor, opening late Summer 2021) and the Breast Health Center (3rd floor, opening late Fall 2021). The Freestanding Emergency Department (FED) is accompanied on the first floor by diagnostic radiology services, a laboratory and a pharmacy. A retail pharmacy called East Alabama Apothecary is also located on the first floor and will be open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. In addition to the services provided to the FED, outpatient services for both laboratory and radiology are provided at this location Monday – Friday. Patients needing lab work collected related to a physician office visit can walk in from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., while patients needing radiology services are scheduled between 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
About East Alabama Health:
East Alabama Health encompasses East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika, EAMC-Lanier in Valley, the Spencer Cancer Center in Opelika, the Auburn Medical Pavilion (opening in June) and a host of other key medical clinic and practices that help provide a continuum of care to patients throughout an 11-county area. EAMC is a 340-bed regional referral hospital, while EAMC-Lanier provides inpatient services as well as a nursing home, an acute rehab unit and an ambulatory surgery center that opened in spring 2021. East Alabama Health employs about 3,500 employees and is the second largest employer in the region, trailing only Auburn University. For more information, visit www.eamc.org.