Clinical Services

Emergency Services

Overview

Standing ready 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, a highly trained staff of Board Certified Emergency Medicine Physicians and Nurses provide compassionate definitive diagnostic services and treatment in Phelps’ Emergency Department to approximately 25,000 people each year. The state-of-the-art facility with 32 private rooms was designed to ensure privacy and comfort. Children are treated in a separate pediatric section, which features a playroom.

There are designated treatment rooms for specialized services, including critical care, gynecology, psychiatry, orthopedics, dentistry, minor surgery, and eye, ear, nose and throat. There is also a 24-hour radiology suite with digital x-ray technology and a 64-slice scanner with cardiac capabilities.

Upon entering, patients are triaged and then brought directly to a private patient room where they are registered. Patients with less serious conditions are brought to the PromptCare area of the Emergency Department. All patients are evaluated bya a nurse practitioner and a physician.

The Phelps Emergency Department is serviced by the ambulance corps of Ardsley, Briarcliff, Chappaqua, Cortlandt, Croton, Dobbs Ferry, Elmsford, Greenburgh, Irvington, Mohegan, Montrose, Mount Pleasant, Ossining, Peekskill, Pleasantville, Sleepy Hollow, Tarrytown, Thornwood, Valhalla and Verplank.

PromptCare

A section of the Emergency Department, PromptCare is a modern “fast track” service that provides rapid assessment and treatment of emergent medical problems that do not require emergent attention. Open 10 am until 10 pm each day (weekends included).

Emergency Preparedness

Phelps made in-depth reviews of emergency preparedness operations and began construction of its free-standing Decontamination Unit prior to Y2K. Phelps conducted the first biological and chemical decontamination drill in Westchester County (perhaps the first in New York State) in November of 2001. Chemicals, radiological materials or biological toxins can be washed off of as many as 40 people per hour in the free-standing Decontamination Unit, preparing them for entry to the Emergency Department if necessary.

People who are contaminated and are also ill or injured can be brought directly into the Emergency Department’s Decontamination Suite. Each of the two decon rooms has a door to the outside and a ventilation system that is separate from the hospital’s system. The patient can be decontaminated in one of the decon rooms and then brought into the Emergency Department for treatment with confidence that any threat of contaminating other patients in the Emergency Department has been eliminated.

Phelps adopted the Hospital Emergency Incident Command System early in 2001. The purpose of HEICS is to minimize confusion or chaos that might occur in the event of a local disaster. Phelps staff members have been assigned and trained to carry out specific duties should a disaster cause the community to seek care in large numbers or should any crisis affect the ability of the hospital to operate normally. The staff is also trained to disseminate information about local mass emergencies, as well as radiological, biological, and chemical terrorism.

As one of the closest hospitals outside the 10-mile “safety zone” surrounding Indian Point, Phelps has had an agreement with Entergy (formerly New York Power Authority) under which annual training sessions and radiological decontamination exercises have been held for Phelps’ staff and community agencies for more than 25 years.

Life Support Training

The Hoch Center for Emergency Education provides training and education programs to medical professionals, emergency responders (Police, Fire, EMS), corporations, and the public. Programs include basic and advanced EMS certification courses, community CPR and First Aid courses, advanced medical education programs including ACLS & PALS, hazardous materials medical response training, camp medical programs and specialty emergency medical education programs.

The Hoch Center offers students true-to-life medical and trauma care simulation training where participants can fine tune their emergency care skills. Instructor controlled mannequins give students a nearly real-life experience in providing treatment for various conditions. Each scenario is audio and video recorded for a facilitator-led debriefing. There is also a simulated ambulance that EMS students use to practice loading and unloading a 150-pound mannequin and experience what it is like to provide medical treatment within the confines of the vehicle.

The staff at the Hoch Center, with their state-of-the-art facility and technology, can also design and conduct custom training programs to meet the needs of the medical community at all levels. (914-366-3577)