Long Wait Times in the ER and Urgent Care: How to Know Where to Go to Get the Care You Need & Stay Healthier

Long Wait Times in the ER and Urgent Care: How to Know Where to Go to Get the Care You Need & Stay Healthier

Like many hospitals across the area and across the country, Valley has an extremely high number of patients, in part because of growing numbers of respiratory illness including COVID, flu and RSV. We need your help to make sure resources in our Emergency Department are being saved for those in need of emergency care.

Please be patient with our care teams at our hospital and clinics, as they are working hard to give quality care to everyone who needs it. Thank you for doing your part to help us care for our community like family.

If it’s not an emergency, please seek care outside of the Emergency Room. Tips for knowing where to go:

  • If your care isn’t urgent, make an appointment with a primary care provider. Find a Primary Care clinic and provider convenient to you at valleymed.org/primary-care
  • If you can’t wait for care, but it’s not severe or life-threatening, visit an Urgent Care clinic. Telehealth appointments may be available. Check wait times at Valley Urgent Care clinics at valleymed.org/wait-times.
  • For more information on where you should seek care, see our Know Where to Go blog post

You can also help by working to avoid spreading illness this fall and winter:

  • Wash/sanitize your hands often. Remember anything you touch in public can get inside you and your home until you clean your hands.
  • Get your flu shot and updated bivalent COVID booster to help lower your chances of getting severe respiratory illness.
  • If you feel any symptoms (including cough, sore throat, fever, shortness of breath), stay home from work or school and away from public places. If that’s impossible, please wear a mask and stay socially distant.

About The Author

Valley Medical Center's Marketing and Community Outreach Office