We've all been there. Sitting and waiting in the emergency room for what seems like an eternity to only be called into one room and to only wait again to see the actual doctor.
Well, at just 32 years old, Dr. Foyekemi Ikyaator is revolutionizing the whole emergency room experience. Ikyaator and her husband opened the Life Savers Emergency Room in December 2015 to satisfy the medical need in Houston, Texas.
According to KTU.org, Dr. Ikyaator created Life Savers ER to meet the growing medical needs of the Houston community. While not attached to a hospital, the facility is a 24-hour emergency room equipped with all the things needed to receive quality care in a regular hospital including radiology equipment, an onsite laboratory and pharmacy.
The ER prides itself in no waiting lines for labs to be sent or processed or even to be seen by a doctor.
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Life Savers Emergency Room has a strict no-wait policy, boasting an average wait time of 0 to 5 minutes (Wow!). The facility is also equipped with a pharmacy, radiology equipment, and onsite laboratory, further eliminating the wait time for patients. It also provides free flu shots and free CPR classes.
According to Texas Medical Center, one of the largest medical facilities in Houston, they receive over 750,000 emergency visits a year. This number is encouraging to a person like Ikyaator who is well-positioned to provide much-needed help in and around the city.
Ikyaator expressed it was her frustration with the system that led her to open the emergency room. “You just start seeing the repetitiveness of the clogged system where you can’t get patients out of the ER, and you can’t get patients [waiting in] the waiting room inside the ER to get treatment,” she explained.
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"I was raised in a education driven home. My father is a professor of veterinary medicine and also has a master’s in public health. He raised us to always value and respect the power of getting an education. I am so grateful for my parents who encouraged us to reach our full potential," explains Ikyaator.
On a full scholarship, Ikyaator studied medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. She then completed her residency in emergency medicine in 2012 at Atlanta’s Emory School of Medicine and Public Health. She wanted to continue her practice and moved to Houston. There, she gained even more experience while...... working within the St. Luke’s Health System, KUT.org reports. Just a few years later, she opened Life Savers Emergency Room.
“I worked in a few ERs in Houston and often I’d get to work and there are 15-20 patients in the waiting room waiting on me,” Ikyaator said. “There are patients in the ER waiting to be admitted; there are patients who are admitted and can’t get a bed upstairs so they’re taking up space.”
Ikyaator now serves as the facility’s medical director, which allows her to be more hands-on with patients and administer the care they need, according to Essence. She explained her reasoning behind establishing Life Savers Emergency Room, recalling the long wait times patients would have to endure because of the overcrowded emergency rooms.
Since its grand opening in January 2016, Life Savers Emergency Room has received 5-star reviews on Google and popular social media platforms.
“You don’t know if there’s a heart attack waiting in the room, and you’re responsible for everyone that comes in there,” Ikyaator explained.
Keep up the great work Dr. Ikyaator! We appreciate you. We honor you. We see you!
For more on Life Savers Emergency Room, click here.
