Is Bellaire ER open on holidays?

Always Open

Bellaire ER is open every hour of every day, including:

• All federal holidays
• Weekends
• Overnight hours
• Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year’s

We are a freestanding emergency room staffed with board-certified emergency physicians around the clock. Walk in any time, no appointment needed.

What “open” means at 3 a.m. on Christmas

The same thing it means on a Tuesday afternoon. Bellaire ER is a licensed freestanding emergency room staffed around the clock by board-certified emergency physicians, supported by nurse practitioners and emergency-trained nursing staff. The CT scanner, X-ray, ultrasound and full laboratory are in this building, so the workup is not a referral to somewhere that reopens after the holiday. Bellaire ER is licensed to administer medication during your visit, so treatment starts here rather than waiting on a pharmacy to reopen. Any take-home prescription is written for you to fill at your own pharmacy.

That matters for the problems that cannot politely wait until an office reopens: a fever in a young infant, chest pain, a cut that will not stop bleeding, a burn, a head injury, abdominal pain that keeps getting worse.

Do not wait for the holiday to pass

Call 911 immediately: do not drive, for a person who is unresponsive, having a seizure that will not stop, struggling to breathe, bleeding severely, or showing stroke signs (face drooping, arm weakness, speech difficulty, sudden severe headache, sudden confusion or loss of vision). Paramedics start treatment on the way.

Come straight in for symptoms that need an emergency workup but are not immediately life-threatening:

• Chest pain, pressure or tightness, especially with sweating, nausea or pain into the jaw or arm
• Any fever of 100.4°F or higher in a baby under 3 months
• A fever in anyone that comes with a stiff neck, confusion, a rash that does not blanch, or a hard time breathing
• Vomiting or diarrhea that has stopped you keeping liquids down, dry mouth, no urine for 8+ hours, dizziness on standing, or a lethargic child
• A cut that gapes open, spurts, or will not stop bleeding after 10 minutes of firm pressure
• A burn that blisters widely, looks white or leathery, wraps a limb, or is on the face, hands, feet, genitals or a joint
• A head injury with vomiting, confusion, worsening headache, or any head injury in someone on a blood thinner
• A fall in an older adult who cannot bear weight afterwards
• An allergic reaction with lip or tongue swelling, hives spreading, or any trouble breathing

What sends people in over the holidays

Holiday weeks change the mix of what we see, and most of it is preventable:

• Kitchen burns and oil fires. Deep-fryer burns are the classic, and a turkey that is still frozen is the usual reason.
• Carbon monoxide. Generators, charcoal and unvented gas heaters during a cold snap. Suspect it when several people in the same house have headache, nausea and dizziness at the same time, and the symptoms improve outdoors. Get everyone out and call 911.
• Alcohol with medication, and palpitations after heavy drinking.
• Food left out too long. Vomiting and diarrhea matter most in older adults, young children, and anyone who cannot keep fluids down.
• Falls from ladders and step stools while hanging decorations.
• Running out of medication over a long weekend: insulin, blood pressure medication, anticoagulants, seizure medication. Do not skip doses waiting for an office to reopen.
• Choking, swallowed bones and swallowed objects, including button batteries and magnets in small children, which are an emergency even if the child seems fine.
• First-time allergic reactions to unfamiliar food.

What to bring

Come in without any of it if you have to, nothing here is worth a delay, but if it is within arm’s reach it speeds up the visit:

• Photo ID and your insurance card
• A list of your medications and doses, or the bottles themselves
• Your allergies, and what each reaction was
• Blood thinners and recent surgeries, which change how we work up an injury
• For a child: current weight, and what and when they last ate or drank
• The name and number of your regular doctor or specialist

Finding us

Bellaire ER is at 5302 Bellaire Blvd, Bellaire, TX 77401, and the phone is (713) 660-0001. Walk in at any hour; no appointment is needed, on a holiday or any other day. If you are not sure whether what you are dealing with belongs in an emergency room, come in and let a physician make that call, Texas bases emergency coverage on your symptoms as a reasonable person would judge them, not on the final diagnosis.