A new Freestanding Emergency Department is now open to the public in Spanish Springs.

The facility, the ER at Spanish Springs, an extension of Northern Nevada Medical Center, is located at 1511 Oppio Ranch Parkway off Pyramid Way.

The ER at Spanish Springs is Northern Nevada Health System’s second FED in the market with the first, the ER at McCarran NW, having opened in 2020. A third FED, the ER at Damonte Ranch, broke ground in December 2022 and is anticipated to open late 2023. 

Similar to a hospital emergency department, the FED will treat a variety of emergency medical needs including heart attack, stroke, trauma conditions, lacerations, acute pain and other life-threatening conditions. If a patient requires a higher level of care, NNMC will partner with local EMS providers to transport patients to an appropriate regional hospital.

Officials also mention the facility has approximately 30 team members working in the building.

They have a nine-bed patient care area, with full services and out-patient services for laboratory and radiology, including full emergency services with ER physicians and fully trained ER nurses.

Kristine Strand, the Emergency Department Director for the Northern Nevada Medical Centers Freestanding ERs says, "If you pretend that the main ER added ten more rooms to their ER, we just moved them across town and put it right next to where you live." Officials say the Spanish Springs area is removed from a lot of the services that are more centrally located downtown. "So being able to bring these services closer to the community of the people that need the services is a great opportunity and this community is growing so quickly and continues to grow so they're going to need these services in the future," explains Philip Reber, the Chief Operating Officer for the Northern Nevada Medical Center.

Officials also want to remind everyone that this new facility is not an urgent care "It is nice because you'll be able to get in and out basically as quick as an urgent care, but we offer ER services so it's basically no different in terms of capabilities as if it were attached to the hospital," Reber continues.

Officials tell us this is their second freestanding ER department they've opened so far, the first being on McCarran Blvd. and Mae Anne Avenue, and they hope for a third to open by the end of the year or beginning of next year in Damonte Ranch.

(NNHS contributed to this report.)