MARION, Iowa (KCRG) – Mercy Medical Center will unveil its soon-to-open emergency room in Marion, it’s the second ER coming to Marion this year.

At a private cutting Friday and Saturday, the city hopes to break ground on the new building.

With staff expected to see up to 100 people each day, the roughly $1.5 million facility has a variety of features to help make patients more comfortable throughout their visit.

Carefully appointed and spacious waiting room seating, along with multiple windows, are designed to make the emergency room more comfortable.

For much of the city’s history, Marion has been without an emergency medical department of any kind. Along with the new ER at Unity Point Health St. Luke’s Hospital, is a welcome addition to Marion.

“We’re underserved as a community because we’re growing rapidly and we haven’t traditionally had these services,” Marion Mayor Nicolas AbouAssaly said.

Before, people from Marion had to drive about seven miles to get to Cedar Rapids.

“When you have a medical emergency, you don’t want to drive long distances,” said Dr. Aucutt, medical director at Mercy Medical Center’s new Marion Emergency Room.

These emergency rooms also provide closer alternatives for people in areas like Anamosa, Central City and Mount Vernon.

This is Mercy’s second “standalone emergency room,” which could help with overcrowding problems at other eastern Iowa hospitals and clinics. The National Institutes of Health calls emergency department overcrowding a “serious health problem.”

“When you look nationally and project that there will be more and more PR visits,” Dr Aucutt said. “As the baby boomer generation gets older and sicker and you see more doctors retiring, so there’s less access to urgent care. “

The emergency room is scheduled to open on December 2.

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