Crime & Safety

Ride in Ambulance Could Now Take You to Brunswick ER

Residents have a choice when they need emergency care

The city's ambulances are now taking some patients to Southwest General's emergency room in Brunswick instead of to the main ER in Middleburg Heights.

Fire Chief Jeff Branic said paramedics starting giving some patients the option of going to the free-standing emergency room on Center Road in Brunswick Jan. 1.

"It's not an option for everyone," Branic said. "We could take an asthma patient to Brunswick, but not a cardiac patient."

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The advantage: Time, for both the patient and the paramedics. The wait in Southwest's Brunswick ER is typically far shorter than at Southwest's main campus, and in the south end of Strongsville, firemedics can deliver the patient and be back in service sooner.

"We can be an advocate of the patient now -- where is the patient going to get relief the quickest," Branic said.

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Serious or trauma cases -- in particular, ones that are likely to require the patient to stay overnight -- still automatically go to the main Southwest emergency room or to MetroHealth Medical Center.

Those cases include psychological cases, childbirth, cardiac, stroke and significant trauma.

But Branic said the Brunswick facility is a full-service emergency room with X-ray equipment, CT scans and suturing. 

He acknowledged the Strongsville department resisted an invitation to use the Brunswick ER when it first opened a couple years ago. But he said paramedics toured the facility in the fall and came back with positive reports.

Strongsville started offering the option Jan. 1. 

Patients can still request to go to Southwest's main campus, even if paramedics suggest Brunswick.

"We want to make sure people know they have that option now, though," Branic said.


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