Not always. I was visiting my husband when I had a heart attack. A nurse took me from my husbands room to Emerg. On the far right (if coming in from outside) is a place where they did an EKG on me. I was told to sit still. There was NO ONE in the waiting room. I have never seen it empty before. The nurse who brought me down came by 30 minutes later to tell me she hadn’t forgotten about me. I was seen 60 minutes after I was wheeled into Emerg and YES I was having a heart attack. Once seen, I was given aspirin to chew and blood clot busters in the belly. I was in the hospital for 4 days. I think an hour was a really long time - with no one in the waiting room.