Emergency Medicine (Acute Care)

Lake Forest Hospital’s Emergency Department provides emergency care, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The emergency room provides a large department with state-of-the-art equipment, private patient rooms, triage stations and a children’s playroom. Lake Forest Hospital’s Emergency Services is designated as a Level II Trauma Center. This designation means that Lake Forest Hospital’s Emergency Services is equipped to stabilize patients who have undergone major trauma. If needed, major trauma patients can be transferred to a Level I Trauma Center. We also hold a pediatric certification—Emergency Department Approved for Pediatrics—given by Emergency Medical Services for Children in conjunction with the Illinois Department of Public Health. This certification means we are equipped to provide superior emergency care to children in the form of preventative, acute and rehabilitative care.

Depending on the severity of your illness or injury, and the bed availability within the emergency department, you will be asked to wait or be immediately taken to an exam room. Patients are seen in order of the severity of their condition. 

Acute Care Center (Grayslake)

Staffed by the same board-certified emergency physicians, advanced life support and nurses who provide skilled care at Lake Forest Hospital’s Emergency Room, our Grayslake Outpatient and Acute Care Center is equipped to provide a wide variety of health services for non-life-threatening situations. Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the center offers a wide variety of advanced diagnostics, sophisticated therapies, private physician’s offices, as well as the Acute Care Center, which has access to the diagnostic technologies if needed.

What is an emergency versus acute health situation?
You should seek treatment from an Emergency Room in the following situations: 

• Poisoning
• Abdominal pain with fever
• Chest or upper abdominal pain or pressure
• Severe burns
• Excessive bleeding
• Dehydration
• Fainting or loss of consciousness
• Stroke
• Severe head wound
• Major trauma
• Amputation
• Difficulty breathing or bluish look around the mouth
• Sudden dizziness or weakness
• Seizures
• Possible suicide or mental disorder
• Foreign object swallowed or otherwise lodged in the body
• Severe and/or persistent vomiting

Call 9-1-1 if you:

• Have a life threatening injury/illness
• Fear you or the patient may need medical attention before you can get to the hospital, or you have doubts about your ability to drive safely to the emergency room
• Have physical limitations preventing you from getting you or the patient to the hospital

 Seek treatment from an acute care facility if you have a: 

• Broken bone
• Severe sprain
• Minor burn
• Cut requiring stitches
• Foreign matter in eyes or ears
• High fever
• Skin rash
• Possible infection requiring lab tests; e.g., respiratory infection, strep throat

Parental Consent: Emergency Release