How to Identify an Emergency
If severe pain comes out of nowhere, your health or the health of someone you love takes a drastic turn, or if a condition is life-threatening, trust your instincts. Head to your nearest emergency room right away. Situations that require emergency medical treatment include:
- Complicated fractures
- Deep wounds
- Extreme difficulty breathing
- Major head injury
- Poisoning
- Severe allergic reactions
- Severe burns
- Suspected heart attack
- Suspected stroke
- Vomiting or coughing up blood
What to Expect When You Visit Our Emergency Room at AdventHealth Lake Wales
When you visit our 24-hour emergency room, you'll want to know what’s happening and why. We understand. After asking for basic information, we’ll take your vital signs. Then we’ll decide how best to care for you.
We prioritize your care through a process known as triage. At times, this means we’ll treat a person suffering from a suspected stroke as soon as they arrive, before someone with a less serious condition. We always strive to keep our emergency wait times as short as possible.
Being prepared can make all the difference in an emergency, and you may want to consider keeping an information card with you at all times. Include the contact information for your primary care doctor, as well as a list of your medications, drug allergies, and advance directives (like health care proxy or do-not-resuscitate orders).
