Leaders from UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Hospital and the city of Marion hailed the soon-to-open St. Luke’s emergency room (ER) in Marion as a key step in addressing the area’s critical care needs during a ribbon-cutting ceremony July 26.
“We’re excited about this footprint and about the growth here in Marion,” UnityPoint Health market president Casey Greene said at the ceremony Friday at the new facility, at 3301 Armar Drive in Marion. “We intentionally chose this location. (There are) a lot of cars driving by, (so) easy access here for the community of Marion, Cedar Rapids and even to the northeast, (it) allows easy access for residents.”
The St. Luke’s Marion ER, totaling 10,000 square feet, will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days per year and staffed by board-certified emergency medicine providers from East Central Iowa Acute Care (which currently serves St. Luke’s Cedar Rapids ER) along with nurses, patient care technicians, and other health care professionals.
Like any hospital emergency department, St. Luke’s Marion ER is equipped to treat patients with illnesses and injuries that require a higher level of care than urgent care offers.
The new Marion ER features:
- Full-service emergency care, with services like those offered at St. Luke’s Cedar Rapids ER at 1026 A Ave. NE in Cedar Rapids
- 12 private treatment rooms
- Advanced imaging for diagnostics and testing, including CT, X-ray and ultrasound
- An on-site laboratory
It also features photographic artwork by Marion-based fine arts photographer Christopher V. Sherman.
Marion Mayor Nick AbouAssaly also spoke at the St. Luke’s ER ribbon-cutting ceremony July 26, noting that the city is “grateful” for the St. Luke’s investment in serving the growing city, which he said has added 2,200 new households in the last two years.
“I talk a lot about Marion growing up as a city, and part of that is giving people greater access to all the things and services they need to to enjoy their lives and to have a good quality of life in their town,” he said. “And a big part of that is, of course, access to quality health care services.”
Work on the project, which began last summer, was spurred by Marion’s fast-growing population and community expansion projections, officials have said.
The new St. Luke’s Marion ER, located in an Armar Plaza building formerly occupied by a UScellular business office, will officially open to the public Aug. 6 at 9 a.m.
Mercy Medical Center is also building a new ER facility at 3701 Katz Dr., off 10th Avenue in Marion, just west of the existing MercyCare Marion clinic. That ER facility is slated to open later this year.
