All too often, people use the local emergency rooms for routine medical help.

    Providence Centralia Hospital’s emergency room treats about 100 people on average per day. The director of the emergency department said a “significant percent” of those patients should be going to a clinic for treatment as they are not truly emergencies.

    Those who improperly use the emergency room for such routine treatment clog up the system for those facing more pressing health emergencies.

    Providence Centralia Hospital is obligated by law to treat those that come through the emergency room doors, as are all hospitals. The hospital does have a Fast Track system between 11 a.m. and 9 p.m. to handle such patients. But during the rest of the time, when people come into the emergency room for non-emergency problems, the hospital is forced to pull staff from the emergency department to treat the patients. Those with non-emergency needs often are forced to wait for hours for treatment for chronic ailments, routine medical care and preventative care.

    Thanks to the generosity of Providence Centralia Hospital and the good works of Valley View Health Center, this emergency room misuse is about to wane.

    Valley View is a not-for-profit group that opened five medical clinics throughout the county last year. The group provides low-cost medical and dental care to low-income and under-insured people. Last year they treated more than 7,000 people for medical care, and another 3,000 for dental work.

    Valley View is now forming a cooperative venture with Providence Centralia Hospital. When a building owned by the hospital and located on its campus opened up at 1800 Cooks Hill Road (the hospital’s cancer services were housed there, but when the new $6 million Lewis County Cancer Center opened up across the street, the building became available), they donated the space to Valley View for a new urgent care clinic.

    Providence will post signs in its emergency room encouraging people to use the Valley View clinic. The clinic will start out with two doctors and plans to be open every day, starting Dec. 1.

    We’re encouraged by the continuous, quality steps to provide health care in Lewis County that Providence Centralia Hospital spearheads. Its donation of the building to Valley View — a building already on the hospital’s campus — is generous.

    The Centralia hospital is part of the larger Providence Health and Services, the largest provider of health care in Western United States. It was founded more than 150 years ago by the Sisters of Providence. Its mission statement is “As People of Providence we reveal God’s love for all, especially the poor and vulnerable, through our compassionate service.”

    This latest initiative with Valley View upholds that mission statement.