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The folks at Golden Triangle Emergency Center know a medical visit can be stressful for a child, so they’ve found ways to make the kiddos more comfortable.

Katelyn Anderson, director of marketing at GTEC, proudly showed the pediatric room where colorfully painted murals show Eli and Ellie the elephants amid clouds and rainbows.

Young child patients visiting the Center receive a T-shirt with the elephants’ images, and any child that comes in with them gets coloring books, as well as the patient.

Anderson said the atmosphere is calming compared to a blank white wall.

“This kind of engulfs them a little bit more in the atmosphere. Less sterile looking,” Anderson said.

Golden Triangle Emergency team members began giving out the T-shirts Feb. 1.

In addition, each child patient gets a small gift from a treasure chest.

Other amenities

Golden Triangle Emergency Center opened its doors at 8050 Memorial Blvd. in 2014. The stand-alone emergency center offers a variety of services. The spacious facility features an observation room.

“We’re able to hold a patient up to 24 hours,” she said, adding this could be done if the patient was prescribed a certain type of medication and needs to be monitored or if they just need monitoring. “After that 24-hour period is over we can transfer them out to another hospital.”

GTEC also has in-house labs so most lab work can be performed there. They also have a radiology department with a CT machine as well as X-ray and ultrasound.

GTEC has a concierge-like approach. There’s a nutrition section, they offer popsicles for the kids, water and Powerade for the patients, different treats and coffee. They also offer heated blankets, she said.

Around another corner in the Center is a pharmacy that can dispense the first dose of a medication to the patient, which will hold them over until they get a prescription filled elsewhere.

Anderson said the Center does have a trauma room where, for example, if a person has chest pain there is a crash cart on site.

There is also an area for triage of self-pay patients. The triage will let a non-insured patient know up front what the doctor would suggest doing based on their symptoms.

If they are emergent they are brought straight back.

Anderson said the Center is open 7 days a week, 365 days a year. They see 18 to 25 patients per day.

The perks of GTEC

There are perks to getting medical care at the Center — speed.

“We’re extremely fast. We get people back before the paperwork is even finished. It’s constant here,” said Brandon Welch, a registered nurse at the Center.

Anderson said another perk is the concierge care. This could mean a person requests lunch or dinner or to allow family to go in and out.

Welch said working at the Center allows him something emergency rooms do not — time. They are allowed more time to visit with a patient than a traditional emergency room, because the ER may have 30 patients at one versus four.

GTEC also calls patients back to check on them after a few days have passed, Anderson said.

The Center has a physician, registered nurse and radiology technician on shift at all times and a licensed vocational nurse on shift from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Other medical professionals such as ultrasound technicians are also available and the front desk is staffed all 24/7.