Ocean Beach Hospital’s emergency room is physician-staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Our physicians and nurses receive special training and are certified in advanced life support, pediatric advanced life support and emergency resuscitation. We have eight private treatment rooms, two of which are dedicated to trauma resuscitation.

Our care team is ready to respond to all kinds of medical emergencies, and treats more than 7,000 patients a year. Most of our ER patients are seeking treatment for acute pain or illness, though we also treat the following in our emergency room:

  • Allergic reactions
  • Asthma attacks
  • Deep cuts
  • Dehydration
  • Fractures
  • Head injuries
  • Pneumonia
  • Respiratory conditions
  • Severe abdominal pain
  • Stroke symptoms
  • Suspected heart attack
  • Uncontrolled bleeding

Ocean Beach Hospital is also part of the Washington State Emergency Cardiac and Stroke System, a proactive response program designed to reduce time to treatment and improve patient outcomes.

Wait times

Patients are not always treated in the order they arrive. In all cases, patients with the most critical symptoms receive care first. The number of patients seeking treatment at any given time and the severity of their conditions will affect your wait time. 

When evaluating a patient, a doctor will sometimes order tests, such as blood work or x-rays. This can result in longer wait times than when visiting a doctor’s office. Medical staff may also request that a patient stay longer in order to observe whether additional treatment is necessary.

Release, admission or transfer

After evaluation and/or treatment in the emergency room, a patient will be released, referred to see their primary care physician or a specialist, admitted to the hospital, or transferred to another facility for advanced care.

As a Level IV trauma center, Ocean Beach Hospital provides initial evaluation and stabilization of patients who suffer a trauma, such as an injury in an automobile accident. In the case of a severe injury, our trauma team will stabilize the patient’s condition and immediately arrange transport to a regional trauma center (OHSU, Legacy Emanuel Hospital or PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center). In such cases, we deploy state-of-the-art Life Flight helicopter service to transfer patients. It typically takes 20 to 30 minutes for a patient to arrive at one of these facilities via Life Flight from Ocean Beach Hospital.

A Life Flight membership protects you and your household members from the cost of the transport. If you do not have a membership, you can join here.

  HOURS

Emergency Department
174 1st Avenue N.
Ilwaco, WA
Monday-Sunday
24 hours