We’re trying to figure out if this is a story: Central Washington Hospital’s emergency room is busiest on Sundays. I don’t have numbers yet, but Natalie Noyd, the ER director, says visits are significantly higher that day — but not double that of another day.

Noyd says it’s likely a combination of things. First, there’s only one clinic open Sundays, and they close at 2 p.m. Second, Sunday is the day before Monday, when people go back to work/school. They realize they may not be able to get in to see their primary care doctor on Monday, and want to get something taken care of before the new week starts. And third, it’s a weekend day, when all of North Central Washington has more visitors, and people are out playing, and more apt to injure themselves than they would be sitting at a desk.

Here’s the quandary: Is this news? The Washington State Hospital Association says they don’t know of any standards that says a city the size of Wenatchee/East Wenatchee should have a clinic open Sunday afternoons and evenings. I searched the Internet and couldn’t find anything in the way of standards. I’m guessing the best I can do is call a few hospitals in this state that are in cities the size of Wenatchee to find out if they have clinics open on Sundays, or if their ER visits jump on Sundays.

Natalie Noyd said the hospital is certainly there to help anyone with an emergency need, even if it is the kind of thing that would normally be taken care of at a clinic. But we all know the ER is the expensive way to deal with an emergency, plus if our emergency isn’t serious or life threatening, we kind of hate to use the emergency room, even though they do triage patients according to need.

So, what do you think? Is this a story?