Carilion Clinic announced plans Tuesday to build two new freestanding emergency departments — one in Smith Mountain Lake’s Westlake area and one in the Daleville Town Center area. The health system plans to break ground on these projects later this year.
These facilities will offer full emergency services on an outpatient basis and are structurally separate from a hospital. Many emergency services can be managed at freestanding facilities like these without the need for transfer to a traditional hospital, according to a press release from Carilion. Patients who need hospitalization can be transferred easily to the facility of their choice.
Carilion has recently expanded its helipad capacity at the top of the newly constructed Crystal Spring Tower, making air transport to the Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital emergency department faster and more efficient.
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“The new facilities in Westlake and Daleville will make sure families can get the emergency care they need, close to home, without delay,” Wrenn Brendel, vice president of emergency services at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, said in the press release.
The need for emergency services is increasing in the area, according to Hannah Curtis, a spokesperson for Carilion Clinic.
“As communities grow, so does the need for access to advanced care close to home,” she said.
The new sites will be Carilion’s first freestanding emergency departments. Both will operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and will be staffed by emergency medicine doctors and other clinical staff. They’ll include dedicated exam rooms for children and adults along with advanced imaging technology, on-site laboratories and telemedicine capabilities.
As the projects move forward, more information about bed capacity and facility size will be released, Curtis said.
In a separate expansion of regional care, Carilion will open a new pediatric clinic in Rocky Mount on July 28. The site will offer general pediatric care and will host rotating pediatric specialists. This model, commonly used in rural areas, helps expand access to specialized services in underserved communities.
