Emergency Department

WDH emergency department, open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, is fully staffed by specialty trained, board-certified emergency medicine physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners,  trauma certified nurses, Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners, registered paramedics, case managers and social workers. The Emergency Department (ED) is the 4th busiest in New Hampshire and serves approximately 45,000 patents per year from New Hampshire and Maine as well as visitors touring the NH seacoast. 

Our team of experts extends to other hospital departments, pre-hospital providers who partner with us to provide evidence-based emergency care and treatment protocols for our patients and their families.

We offer state-of-the-art treatment protocols for:

• Heart attacks -
  • or ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) with our primary angioplasty intervention program.
• Stroke -
  • With state-of-the-art diagnostic criteria to most safely select those patients who should undergo thrombolytic therapy, a "clot buster" drug that can open up closed arteries to the brain to reverse the injury and protect the brain. Through our affiliation with Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), we can access stroke specialists from MGH by telemedicine who can remotely examine patients at WDH to help diagnose the patient's condition and recommend a plan of care.
• Sepsis -
  • Protocols are available to use in the care of the patient with sepsis (serious infection) so that early recognition and rapid intervention based on standard protocols can improve patient outcomes.      
• Trauma -
  • Trauma Team activation is available to immediately respond to adult and pediatric trauma patients received at WDH. We are identifying changes in our trauma system in collaboration with MGH as part of our affiliation.   

Emergency staff is involved in research, education, prevention, disaster planning, community education, public safety policy, toxicology, pre-hospital care, emergency trauma medicine.

Express Care

Express Care is part of the emergency department where you can be seen for minor medical emergencies in a timely manner. Express Care provides care for patients who are not in a critical situation, such as minor burns and cuts, low-grade fever, insect bites, minor eye injuries and earaches. Express Care is for patients who need medical attention and cannot see their own physician or do not have a primary care physician. It operates from 9 a.m. to 12:30 a.m., seven days a week. Express Care has its own waiting room, eight dedicated beds and its own nursing station which are separate from the acute part of the Emergency Department.

For more information about our Emergency Department, view our brochure.

To find information about our physicians, search our physician section.

For information on our Walk-In Urgent Care Center in Lee, NH, visit the Walk-In page.