About the CHA Emergency Department

We have one of the state's largest Emergency Departments, with 24-hour emergency care at our three hospital campuses.
If you are in need of immediate medical assistance, please call 9-1-1.

What to Expect

Our listed wait times are approximate and intended for informational purposes only. These numbers, updated every 15 minutes using the average wait time for the past four hours, represent the average time it takes for a patient to be placed into our treatment rooms and start to be cared for by a member of our Emergency Department. A registered nurse will triage patients on arrival. Then, patients will be seen by an emergency medicine provider based on severity.

The national average wait time is one hour, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) *.

*Pitts SR, Niska RW, Xu J, Burt CW. National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2006 emergency department summary. National health statistics reports; no 7. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2008.

How We Do It

We have changed the way we approach emergency care to improve quality and reduce emergency room wait times. These include:

• A state-of-the-art patient triage and tracking system, which allows us to monitor the status of every emergency patient in real-time.

• Rapid assessment protocols that help prioritize our work and see patients faster, without sacrificing quality.

• New staff at all three sites, including highly trained doctors, nurses, physician assistants, and patient greeters.

• A streamlined patient admission process that helps us get the sickest patients to a hospital bed sooner, freeing up our time to see people with less severe health needs.

• Psychiatry Emergency Care, including a separate Psychiatric ER at our Cambridge Hospital campus and separate psychiatric emergency rooms at our Whidden Hospital campus.

How To Get Here: