Emergency care
Emergency care is the treatment of unexpected, severe medical injuries or infections. It is typically delivered in an emergency room or an ambulance. Our emergency medicine physicians stabilize your condition as quickly as possible to prepare you for the next step of care or discharge.
Emergency room (ER) in Marion, North Carolina
If something feels wrong, you shouldn't have to wait or travel great distances to get the treatment you need.
Emergencies require swift action and expertise. At Mission Hospital McDowell, our highly-trained emergency doctors and nurses are on standby 24/7 to provide critical care with compassion and skill.
Medical airlift services
Our 24/7, regional helicopter service — Mountain Area Medical Airlift (MAMA) — provides transport if you are critically ill or injured within a 150-mile radius of Asheville. This enables our adult and pediatric care teams to get you the life-saving care you need.
Our 24/7, regional helicopter service — Mountain Area Medical Airlift (MAMA) — provides transport if you are critically ill or injured within a 150-mile radius of Asheville. This enables our adult and pediatric care teams to get you the life-saving care you need.
Conditions we treat in our emergency department
It can be difficult to know what constitutes a medical emergency. However, go to the nearest emergency room immediately if you experience any of the following:
- Behavioral health crises
- Broken bones
- Chest pain
- Concussions
- Dangerous insect bites
- Difficulty breathing
- Dizziness
- Head trauma
- Heart attacks
- High fever
- Nausea and vomiting
- Nonhealing wounds
- Organ failure
- Pneumonia
- Poisoning
- Seizures
- Severe abdominal pain
- Severe allergic reactions
- Strokes
- Suspicious insect bites
- Uncontrollable bleeding
Our emergency medical services
The goal in the ER is to quickly, carefully and effectively treat your condition. We encourage you to ask questions, so you have all the information you need during treatment.
Behavioral health services at Sweeten Creek Mental Health and Wellness Center
Our 84,000 square foot facility in Asheville offers 120 beds for both acute inpatient and outpatient mental health care. To get admitted, you must first undergo a medical screening from one of our emergency physicians to confirm conditional stability. Once this has been established, you or your loved one would be recommended a transfer to more longtime care in Asheville.
With separate and secure units for children, adolescents, adults and seniors, each age-appropriate unit has its own private outdoor courtyard, as well as a “psych-safe playground” for kids, basketball court for adults and an outdoor walking trail for seniors.
Our overall goal is to use various treatment methods to get you stabilized and through your crisis, before acquiring support in the community so you can thrive at home, rather than in the hospital.
Please call (828) 213-4696 to schedule your assessment today. If you're experiencing an emergency and you’re worried about your own or a loved one's safety, call 911 or visit the nearest emergency room immediately.
Stroke treatment
As a designated Acute Stroke-Ready Hospital, our ER team is equipped to provide rapid stroke care when the need arises, including medications. If you or a loved one has experienced a stroke, we are ready to stabilize you before transporting you to a primary or comprehensive stroke center in the region.
Stroke symptoms can vary, which can make it confusing to know when you need to seek emergency care. This is why we remind people about BEFAST, an acronym that explains stroke symptoms:
- B – Can you keep your balance?
- E – Are your eyes blurry?
- F – Is your face drooping?
- A – Do your arms have weakness or numbness?
- S – Is your speech slurred or confused?
- T – Time to call 911!
About our ER
When you come to us for emergency care, you have access to an array of medical professionals and ER services.
Features of our 24-hour ER
Some of the features of our emergency department include:
- Advanced imaging to detect underlying causes
- Computerized tomography (CT) scans
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
- Nuclear medicine
- Ultrasound
- X-ray
- Cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons
- Chaplains, social workers and case managers
- Emergency medicine doctors and nurses
- Orthopedic surgeons
- Physical, occupational, speech and respiratory therapists
- Radiologists
- Trauma surgeons
Some of the features of our emergency department include:
- Advanced imaging to detect underlying causes
- Computerized tomography (CT) scans
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
- Nuclear medicine
- Ultrasound
- X-ray
- Cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons
- Chaplains, social workers and case managers
- Emergency medicine doctors and nurses
- Orthopedic surgeons
- Physical, occupational, speech and respiratory therapists
- Radiologists
- Trauma surgeons