Dr. Greg Rutledge is the Chief of Emergency Medicine here at St. Joe’s. He’s in charge of the busiest ER in the city.
At any given time, Dr. Rutledge and his team of doctors, nurses and residency students can be found treating a grandmother with pneumonia who is struggling to breathe; saving a young adult having an anaphylactic allergic reaction; attending to a family whose son is experiencing his first mental health crisis; monitoring a daughter-in-law who has gone into early labour and rushing a father who is having chest pains for an ECG.
On top of these five patients, there are even more people in the waiting room anxiously anticipating their turn to see a doctor and receive the care they urgently need. No other department in the hospital sees such a wide variety of patients—all with different health concerns, and all in need of urgent assistance. At this time of year, when some local businesses are posting their reduced holiday hours, when schools are closing down for the Christmas break, we want to remind you that our emergency department doesn’t close down for the holidays. We’ll be here, ready to care for you, your loved ones, and everyone who needs our Hospital.
You might be surprised to know that on average,we see more than 130 patients come into our Emergency Department on Christmas Day alone. That’s almost the same number of patients we see on any other day. Sometimes emergencies do happen over the holidays.
