Memorial Health recently celebrated a milestone achieved through teamwork and operational improvements. The emergency and trauma team has sustained its average ER wait times below 15 minutes for the past 90 days.

“In an emergency, every second matters. If you or your child are ill or injured, waiting even minutes for help can feel like an eternity,” said Memorial Health ER Director Lori Conaway. “That’s why we’ve focused so hard to ensure that when you come to Memorial, your medical care is started very quickly.”

The wait time is defined as the amount of time it takes from when a person walks through the door of the emergency room to the time their medical care is started by a medical provider. “Our emergency department sees more than 100,000 visits each year and many of these patients are seriously ill and need to be seen right away,” said Jay Goldstein, MD, medical director for emergency services. “Our team has worked hard to improve our processes and we’re really proud that we’re now consistently providing care in under 15 minutes.”  

To hold itself to this high standard and ensure the community has confidence in the hospital’s commitment to care, Memorial Health will show its ER wait times very transparently – via their website and billboards throughout Savannah and Pooler. In addition, the community can text “ER” to 32222 for the current average wait time.

“High-quality care will always remain our No. 1 priority,” said CEO Shayne George. “We are responding to what we know our families want -- the best emergency care, delivered quickly. As a Level I trauma center, we know there will be times that our ER wait times climb a bit higher due to delays when critical patients have to be seen first. However, due to strong operational processes, we are able to see patients much more quickly, helping them on the road to recovery or home more quickly, too.”