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Emergency Room

If you feel you have a serious, life-threatening illness or injury that requires immediate medical care, call 911 or go to the nearest hospital.

The Emergency Room (ER) at Columbia Memorial Hospital provides emergency medical care for communities in Clatsop County, Oregon, and Pacific County, Washington, as well as visitors to our region. The ER is open 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Person-centered care means that we see all our patients as a person to be cared for and not just as a patient. This means that our experienced team of medical providers works with you to provide the highest quality of care while taking into consideration your needs and preferences.

What to expect at the CMH ER

Our emergency medicine team works together to offer care as quickly and effectively as possible. In general, you will go through three stages during your visit:

Not every medical issue belongs at the ER.

When should you go to the ER?

Learn more about the differences between the ER and urgent care.

Reviewed 11/17/2022
  • Triage: After checking in, a nurse who is highly skilled at triaging patients will examine you to determine what steps to take to treat your injury or condition. Like all ERs, we evaluate and treat the sickest patients first.
  • Treatment: You will then be moved to a treatment room, where you will see an ER doctor who is board-certified in emergency medicine or a highly experienced nurse practitioner. Depending on your condition, they may order medical tests, hold you for observation or admit you to CMH for inpatient care. Because we treat people with the most urgent need first, you may need to wait to see a provider or to be moved to a hospital room.
  • Discharge: When it is safe to go home, our team will talk to you about what you should do when you leave the hospital. This may include written or verbal information about your condition from your doctor, instructions on when to follow up with your primary care provider, and information on medicines from our pharmacists.

CMH offers comprehensive care

Your doctor or nurse practitioner may recommend tests or procedures, such as blood tests, a CT scan or an electrocardiogram (ECG). Wherever possible, we try to carry out simple procedures, like blood draws, at your bedside. CMH has a wide range of diagnostic technology, including on-site ultrasound, CT and x-ray services. If you need emergency surgery, our team will take you directly to surgery as quickly as possible.

Connect to OHSU specialists from the ER

The CMH Emergency Room partners with Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) to connect patients to specialists right here in our ER. How does it work? Using a telemedicine robot, OHSU physicians will "visit" with you in your room at CMH via a live, direct video feed. For example, a patient who's having an acute stroke can see an OHSU neurologist right away — and that can lead to better outcomes.

Social and pastoral care

Every patient's needs are different. But at CMH, we believe that it's important to provide access to spiritual care, behavioral health support and mental health services during your time in the ER. Patients who come to us for emergency care have access to:

  • Social services support: Social workers are available at the ER during working hours and on-call at other times. They can connect patients to community care services or assist those experiencing mental health crises.
  • Behavioral health crisis support: For patients experiencing a behavioral health crisis, our medical team can help arrange follow-up psychiatric care and support.
  • Spiritual support: CMH has a hospital chaplain and can arrange spiritual or pastoral care for multiple denominations and faiths.