Dallas/Fort Worth Airport Now Has Its Own ER

If you thought massage chairs were the height of airport health perks, you’ll probably be impressed by a recent addition to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) in Texas. The travel hub has opened what might be the country’s first airport emergency room, as Condé Nast Traveler reports. Located at the south entrance, the 8160-square-foot center has everything you’d expect from an urgent-care location, including an X-ray machine, a CT scanner, and a laboratory.

The ER is intended to serve dual functions. Because DFW is a massive operation, employing 65,000 workers, airport staff will be able to obtain speedy attention for ailments without having to leave the site. And because traffic at the airport is so high—more than 67 million travelers pass through each year—visitors will be able to address symptoms without delay. That’s especially useful if they’re experiencing respiratory-related issues or conditions frequently associated with air travel, like deep-vein thrombosis (DVT), a blood clot in the legs that can migrate to the upper body and cause a pulmonary embolism.

The airport told Condé Nast Traveler that it was only a matter of hours after opening that a passenger came to the ER complaining of chest pain. (He was treated and released.) Because the facility is located outside of security checkpoints, it’s also open to the general public.

The site’s operator, Code 3, previously opened an urgent-care center in the airport’s international terminal, as well as another urgent-care location in Las Vegas’s McCarran International Airport. The company eventually hopes to expand its ER practices to other high-profile and highly trafficked airports around the country.