by Betha Merit
You just ate dinner, cleaned up, and are settled down to watch an hour of the news before bed. But you just cannot get comfortable. Is that indigestion? But why are you sweating? You sure don’t feel like spending your night at a hospital emergency room, waiting in line for machines, tests, and the busy medical staff to determine if you need Pepto-Bismol or have something far more serious going on. But it’s your life and your health. You need to know.
Your son is at football practice and you get the call he’s had an injury. His collarbone may be broken. You have to get it x-rayed and diagnosed. It is emergency room time, but your history with stitches, broken bones, and other emergencies reminds you that this will take hours waiting your turn for an available x-ray machine and then for a radiologist to read the scans. You need an ER, but which local hospital do you choose?
There is another emergency room option whose time has come. Clear Lake ER (emergency room) is a freestanding, fully staffed and equipped emergency facility. The doctors, nurses and technicians (lab and radiology) have years of experience, and are handpicked for their job. At Clear Lake ER you are a priority, and are treated that way. Typically, you will be seen within 10 minutes, diagnosed, treated, and on your way in less than an hour, even when an x-ray or CT scan is required. Should they determine you need hospital admittance, they can call ahead to make sure there is a bed in the hospital of your choice and order transport. Clear Lake ER can save you hours of critical time. And the cost is no more than any hospital ER visit.
Dr. James Jackson, M.D., is the founder of Clear Lake ER, which opened in May 2010. He grew up in Clear Lake and went to Clear Lake High School, followed by Texas A & M University and then UTMB Galveston for medical school and his residency in Internal Medicine. After serving a year as chief resident of internal medicine, Dr. Jackson stayed at UTMB for 3 more years as an assistant professor of emergency medicine. He later spent 10 years at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Houston, working in their ER department.
“There is no substitute for experience,” says Dr. Jackson, whose staff of Clear Lake ER physicians includes Dr. Paul English, M.D., and Dr. Bobby Chu, M.D., as well as several part time emergency physicians. Dr. Jackson hired nursing and technical staff that he had worked with at Galveston and St. Luke’s ERs. “It was like cherry picking,” says Dr. Jackson. “I selected only the best staff who I felt would provide the highest level of care,” says Dr. Jackson, referring to everything from compassionate patient-first treatment, to quality of emergency medical knowledge, to the dedication to customer service. The offices are also designed for functional flow with no wasted space, thanks to Dr. Jackson’s vision of making the ER experience efficient and calming, rather than hectic and traumatic. The tones of glacier blue and warm golden walls, with rich wood flooring provide a soothing ambience, in stark contrast to the typical white walls and cold linoleum of a traditional hospital ER.
In the year 2000, freestanding emergency rooms began opening up in Texas. “I saw that this sort of model could work,” says Dr. Jackson. “I wanted to bring that vision to Clear Lake, since no one had focused on this area of Houston. Basically, I saw that we needed more options for emergency care in this area, so I designed a facility that would allow us to provide the best emergency care available anywhere.” Many people are familiar with the urgent care model, which offers general practice medicine on weekends and nights, for non-emergency type diagnoses like sinus infections, earaches, and sore throats. But a free standing ER is a new, cutting edge concept where both major and minor emergencies can be treated in the same facility.
Clear Lake ER is the first freestanding ER to be licensed in the state of Texas. They are also the first to get their freestanding pharmacy license too. Accredited by the AAAHC (Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Healthcare), Clear Lake ER just had their accreditation renewed for the allowable maximum of three years.
What are some of the emergency treatments that might send you to Clear Lake ER? They treat any emergency for patients of any age including such things as acute abdominal pain, allergic reaction, burns, chest pains, altered mental state, headaches, lacerations both simple and complex, fractures, sprains, bruises, head injuries, seizures, rashes, overdoses, asthma, pneumonia or anything that might send you to the hospital ER. A list of typical treatments and emergency situations can be found on their website at www.clearlakeER.com.
Clear Lake ER has six patient rooms; two are dedicated to critical care with the ability for cardiac monitoring and defibrillation. From the outside, Clear Lake ER looks like a standard doctor’s office, but is actually a full size ER complete with its own lab and a pharmacy for time saving dispensing of medicine. “So, it’s one stop,” says Dr. Jackson, describing the experience at Clear Lake ER. Also, the front desk staff is knowledgeable about insurance and can quickly assess the patient situation and get the patient into a room within a minute or two.
Dr. Jackson has been consulted by other physicians who opened, or plan to open, freestanding ERs, all over Texas and as far away as Georgia. His quality standards include hiring a full staff to work only the job they are trained to do. The radiology technician only does radiology testing. The nurses do not have to cover the front desk. And when it comes to starting an IV or getting a finger stick for a blood test, he has hired the best of the best. “There is no substitute for hands on, been there, seen that,” says Dr. Jackson, referring to every level of service at Clear Lake ER.
Clear Lake ER is involved in the community of Clear Lake as well. They have a medical tent which they staff and take to various school, charity, and community events or festivals, to assist should a medical need arise.
Dr. Jackson met his wife, Allyson, at the McDonald’s on NASA Road 1 while they were in high school. Their son is a junior at Clear Lake High School, and their daughter is in 8th grade at Space Center Intermediate. “ I’ve been a part of this community for over 30 years” says Dr. Jackson, “ and I’m proud to call Clear Lake my hometown.”
You know where your favorite fast food restaurant is located, and where to find your personal bank branches. Why not make a plan for where you will go for emergency medical treatment? Clear Lake ER is located at 2409 Falcon Pass #100, just off of Space Center Drive, behind the Walgreens and next to Falcon Pass Elementary School. Their phone number is 281-461-1111. Clear Lake ER will be open 24/7 beginning July 2012. Currently, they are open daily from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
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