Family Emergency Room at Lake Travis is planning to open in a couple of weeks to offer 24-hour service 365 days of the year.
By MADISON PHARIS, Four Points News
Family Emergency Room will soon have six locations opened in Austin, with one opening soon in Four Points.
Construction has been going on for several months at the 5012 RM 620 site, across from Randalls supermarket and the Quinlan Crossing shopping center. As of Friday, plans were to open Family ER at Lake Travis by mid-January pending results from the site inspection, which is to take place next week.
“As it stands right now, our goal is to open in two weeks,” said Margaret Sedlar, chief marketing officer.
Each location of Family ER is open with 24-hour care and 365 days of the year, providing services for trauma, injury care, screenings and diagnostics. As their name implies, both children and adults can receive attention at the ER.
Although they originally began with just providing emergency care, Family ER soon grew to expand the services they now provided. Different screenings are offered, including heart screenings. State of the art equipment such as CT scans help to uncover silent killers such as coronary heart disease.
Family ER will also provide test results, on-site imaging and lab processing, X-rays, ultrasounds, EKGs, and is a 24/7 certified ImPACT concussion center
Fed up with how hospital emergency rooms were running their practices, Dr. Henry Higgins had specific goals set when he opened the Family Emergency Room in 2010, after he and his family moved to North Texas. Higgins, who earned a degree first in biochemistry and then in internal and emergency medicine from West Virginia University, worked in emergency rooms. He was displeased, however, by the long waiting periods, understaffing, and the lack of accountability and focus on patients. When he opened his own practice, he jumped on the opportunity with the intent of changing how emergency medical care was given.
Family ER also contributes to the local community. Volunteer services from the doctors and nurses provide sideline assistance at local football and soccer games, among other events.
Lynette Haaland contributed to this article.
