Allen County Regional Hospital is in the final stages of having its emergency room certified as a Level 4 trauma center, despite already operating at Level 4 for some time, Lisa Griffith told Iola Rotarians Thursday.
Griffith, an ACRH employee for 17 years, has been the ER director the past 12. She explained that Level 4 trauma care was designated for rural areas and the types of physical dangers that arise in such environments — vehicle accidents, including those having to do with all-terrain vehicles and farm equipment, with head injuries and limb dismemberments are far from a rare. Other outdoor mishaps also are a commonality.
She pointed out such things are leading causes of deaths for children and young adults.
To deal with patients suffering severe and life-threatening trauma, one protocol of Level 4 care is that the hospital have a trauma team trained and equipped to respond within 10 minutes of notification of an emergency.
Activating the team depends on the situation, she said, and with 911 calls from outlying areas its authorization usually isn’t triggered until first responders make contact with a patient and do a preliminary, albeit quick, assessment. The outcome, she said, is more than ample time for the team, including multiple medical disciplines, to prepare to provide care well in advance of a patient’s arrival at the hospital.
“When we walk through the sliding doors (to the ER), team members are there waiting for us,” interjected Ryan Sell, Iola’s ambulance director.
Once a patient’s condition has been determined, a decision is made whether to treat and release, admit or transfer to a hospital with more comprehensive capabilities.
“We have (transfer) relationships with (several metropolitan) trauma centers,” Griffith said.
She noted education on the part of the trauma team and daily emergency room personnel was ongoing, as well as efforts to find ways to improve performance. A sit-down occurs after each trauma case to see “what we can do better and what we did well,” Griffith said.
When a patient is deemed better treated by transfer, it is done by ambulance or helicopter. ACRH has an agreement with Eagle Med, which flies helicopters most often out of its Chanute station. Others are available in Pittsburg and Wichita.
How often are patients airlifted from ACRH? “Every day so far this week,” Griffith said.
ACRH trauma care upgraded
