Celebrating the announcement of the Mesa View Regional Hospital 30 minute or less ER pledge are l to r MVRH CEO Kapua Conley, MVRH Assistant Medical Director Dr. Jared Johnson, Mesquite Mayor Mawrk Weir and MVRH E.R. Nurse Adam Gerrard.

By Vernon Robison

Moapa Valley Progress

Last week, the Mesa View Regional Hospital (MVRH) stepped out into some bold territory where few other hospitals have dared to tread. On Friday, the hospital officially rolled out a new 30-Minutes-Or-Less Emergency Room (ER) service pledge.

“We are pledging to the community that our patients will be seen by an ER physician within 30 minutes of arrival to the emergency room,” said MVRH CEO Kapua Conley at a June 29 open house held at the hospital to celebrate the announcement.

Conley explained that, going forward, when patients check in at the MVRH emergency room their time of arrival will be noted and the clock will start.

The hospital will also be streaming current ER wait times on its website at MesaViewHospital.com, Conley said.

Conley expects that this pledge will put the MVRH emergency room into a class of its own. “Many of you have lived outside of the community and have experienced other ERs,” Conley said. “Not many ERs have the courage to make a 30 minutes ER wait time commitment and then publish it in the local newspaper and publish a live feed on a website. It is audacious and bold but I am confident we can do it.”

It is the outstanding dedication of the MVRH staff to providing excellent service that made Conley comfortable in making such a pledge, he said.

“As a community we have always maintained the expectation of high quality standards,” Conley said. “We have responded by winning the Health Insight Award in both 2009 and 2010. Very few, if any, Nevada hospitals can say they have won this award two years in a row. Now, it is really through the hard work and dedication of our ER staff and entire hospital that we are able to make this pledge to the community.”

Conley hopes that the pledge will just add one more reason for residents in the Moapa and Virgin Valleys to stay in the community to receive healthcare.

“I want people to stop and think before leaving the community and to realize that they can stay right here for excellent care,” Conley said. “Because now the reality is, that by the time you go up I-15. through the gorge and past Cedar Pockets, you could have already gotten in to see a physician here. I’m hopeful and confident that the community will receive this very well.”