The emergency departments at Centra Lynchburg General Hospital, Centra Bedford Memorial Hospital, Centra Gretna Medical Center, and Centra Southside Community Hospital are open 24 hours to serve people who are seriously injured or ill and require immediate care. A triage process is used to prioritize emergency care and identify patients requiring medical attention according to the nature and severity of their injury or illness.

As a visitor, we realize you are anxious about your ill family member or friend. Since we have so many patients and visitors, we have developed the following guidelines for our visitors to ensure the best care for our patients:

• Please notify the greeter at the front desk that you are a visitor.
• Tell the greeter the name of the patient you have accompanied to the ER, and they will assist you. 
• If the greeter is not available or not in the waiting room, check with the triage nurse for information. The charge nurse  in the ER is responsible for notifying the greeter or triage nurse when a patient is permitted to have a visitor.
• Because of our space constraints, our policy is that two visitors are permitted to accompany a patient in a room.
• A security officer is available near the triage area. If you are unable to obtain the information you need, please check with the officer. The security officer is responsible for operating the electronic door leading to the ER. Please allow the officer time to operate the door.
• We remind you that no smoking is allowed anywhere on the campus of Lynchburg General Hospital, or any Centra facility.
• Please note that when you call in to ask about a patient, we cannot give you a lot of information. Our hospital policy states that staff are only allowed to give a patient's status over the telephone. Further information should be obtained from an immediate family member or the patient's physician.
• We understand how difficult it is to wait for information. We want to make your waiting time as hassle-free as possible, and we welcome suggestions to improve our current visitor guidelines.