Trip to Emergency Room to Get Shorter for Apex Residents

APEX, N.C. — A ride to the emergency room will be much shorter for many people in and around Apex.

On Monday, the WakeMed Apex Healthplex will open. It's the second, free-standing emergency department in the county. Located at 120 Healthplex Way, it will also have a helipad.

“We really think 25 percent of what we're going to see is going to be pediatrics, based on the number of young families that are in this area,” said Registered Nurse Carolyn Knaup.

There will be 12 treatment rooms, some designed specifically for children. An imaging room with rustic images of old Apex was specially designed to distract young patients from the technology around them.

During the summer of 2005, WakeMed opened its first free-standing emergency department in the north end of Wake County. It saw 28,000 patients last year.

Officials said they expect 32 patients a day in Apex’s new emergency room, which will serve the southwestern end of the county. Another one is under construction in eastern Wake County.

Convenience is what matters to Apex resident Harold Capps.

“It's going to be nice having one closer by,” he said.