MountainStar Healthcare opens first emergency center in Syracuse

SYRACUSE, Utah — Ashley Alder didn’t expect a fun evening ride around her neighborhood on an electric scooter to end the way it did Monday.

“I was on the back of this electric scooter with my 12-year-old son on the front,” Alder said. “We went off the sidewalk and crashed.”

Alder, who has lived in Syracuse for 10 years, said her son was not injured, but his shoulder took the brunt of the fall.

“The next day I went to work and my shoulder got worse and worse,” he added.

After visiting a couple of urgent care centers in the area that she said didn’t accept her insurance, Alder said, “I remembered the new emergency room in Syracuse that just opened and I stopped in there and was seen right away for X-rays.”

On Thursday, MountainStar Healthcare publicly celebrated the opening of the Syracuse Emergency Center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and community event.

“This is a pivotal and exciting time to live and work in Syracuse,” Mayor Dave Maughan said from the podium. “The decisions we make now about our city will impact generations to come, and bringing services like this closer to people’s homes is absolutely the right decision.”

The emergency facility was built to address population growth experienced in parts of western Davis and Weber counties, including Syracuse, West Point, Clearfield, Clinton and Roy and surrounding areas.

Former Syracuse City Councilwoman Lisa Bingham says the project has been in the works for two years.

“We have tremendous growth in the city and because of that tremendous growth, we have tremendous needs,” Bingham said.

Bingham says the city’s population is currently 30 to 35,000, but is projected to be 60,000 when Syracuse is fully built.

“When the hospital came and said they were willing to build here, we were excited because we knew we needed another emergency response center and we knew this was the perfect place for it,” he added.

The Syracuse Emergency Center, a freestanding emergency room (FSER), provides comprehensive emergency services at the hospital.

It is fully equipped and staffed 24/7 by experienced physicians certified by Ogden Regional Medical Center.

The facility includes 11 patient exam rooms and comprehensive laboratory and imaging services, including CT scans, X-rays and ultrasounds.

“Acute injuries, trauma, cardiac conditions like heart attacks or cardiac arrhythmias, strokes, you know, things where time is of the essence for care. It’s so important to have that access,” said Dr. Bo Poulson, an emergency physician and medical director at Ogden Regional Medical Center. “(FSER) is an emergency access point where patients can come for emergency care to get stabilized and ultimately be treated and sent home, or we’ll treat them and admit them to the appropriate facility.”

If a patient’s medical needs warrant, once stabilized, he or she may be transported to a full-service hospital for the subspecialty and definitive care he or she needs.

Dr Poulson says a facility like this should reassure parents and families.

“I think for a growing community, having access to health care is a peace of mind for you and your family, knowing that if everyday life goes against you, you have the ability to get somewhere and get the treatment you need,” she said.

Syracuse Fire Department Battalion Chief Corey Bybee says minutes and seconds count in a life-saving situation.

“Travel times to our closest facility, depending on where you are in the city, can be up to ten minutes. And now with this facility, that can be reduced, depending on where we are, probably two to five minutes,” said Battalion Chief Bybee.

While Alder’s injury wasn’t serious this time, he said, “It’s nice to have an emergency room nearby that can give you peace of mind.”

The new emergency center is located at 323 S 2000 W, Syracuse, UT 84075.

For more information on the project, please visit their website here or contact the facility directly by calling (385) 383-2100.