Emergency Care

Rapid Medical Assessment (RMA) is designed to help patients to be seen, treated and out of the ER faster when life's little emergencies occur and you can't get in to see your primary care physician.

Whether it's a sore throat, sprained ankle or minor bumps and bruises, our ER is here to provide you with experienced staff, quality care and cutting-edge technology you've come to expect.  You'll receive medical attention with less waiting, and you'll depart in far less time than you thought possible. 

During a disaster-whether accidentally, naturally, or intentionally introduced, hospital staff must be prepared to respond.  
 
Disasters may involve Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, or Explosives (CBRNE) hazards that will require decontamination of patients, advanced personal protective measures for staff, and nontraditional treatment measures. 

HERT (Hospital Emergency Response Training) has been established to protect the hospital from contamination when receiving, decontaminating, and triaging victims for further processing into the hospital. CHRISTUS Ochsner St. Patrick has one of two HERT instructors in Southern Louisiana.

The ThermoSuit®  from Life Recovery Systems administers Therapeutic Hypothermia, which lowers the body's core temperature to a target range of 32 to 34 degrees Celsius. The ThermoSuit is used to decrease the chance of brain damage in heart attack victims.  

For most cardiac arrest victims, survival and quality of life after recovery depend on the amount of brain damage that occurs  The quicker you get the patient to the target temperature, the quicker you stop brain damage.

The ThermoSuit resembles a plastic raft that inflates tightly around a patient.  Once the patient is in the ThermoSuit, a film of cold liquid is pumped continuously around the patient's body. All the while, medical staff has the ability to easily access the patient to perform any necessary treatments and interventions.

The ThermoSuit System was the recipient of a Medical Design Excellence Award, and is FDA cleared for rapid patient cooling. According to the suit's maker, Life-Recovery Systems HD, LLC, of Waldwick, N.J., CHRISTUS Ochsner St. Patrick hospital is among the 20 percent of all hospitals in the country currently use cooling methods for their cardiac arrest patients. CHRISTUS Ochsner St. Patrick is the first hospital in the area to use this system.

This equipment is made possible by a grant from the William T. Ethel Lewis Burton Foundation, donated to the CHRISTUS St. Patrick Foundation.

Number One Trauma

According to our trauma registry data, falls are the number one mechanism of injury among our trauma population. And, of those fall-related trauma injuries, individuals 56 years of age and older are the most at risk. To tackle this trend, CHRISTUS Outreach teams have developed a Fall Prevention Education Program to keep our senior community safe and independent. The Outreach Team provides fall preventative education at local Senior Community Centers throughout the year.