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There are some issues that impact us all, and health care is one of them.
You and your family need health care to stay well or get well. And when it comes to emergency services and access to them, it can be a matter of life and death.
Last week, Gov. Janet Napolitano issued an executive order aimed to improve the state’s health care situation, specifically regarding what are known as trauma centers. Such centers focus on emergency medical issues, such as severe vehicle crash injuries.
Unfortunately, our state has too few centers with only Phoenix, Tucson and Flagstaff currently having them. In Cochise County, many patients who suffer life-threatening injuries are transferred to University Medical Center in Tucson, the only trauma facility in Southern Arizona. And during the trip to get care, precious time can be spent.
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Napolitano’s order seeks to have the Arizona Department of Health Services increase the number of trauma centers in the state. The stated reason is that it will improve patient care and reaction times if there is a “mass-injury event.”
But to make that occur, local hospitals are going to have to work toward the standards and criteria that are set forth by the state. And just browsing the pages of rules and four pages of criteria that need to be met to get even the lowest ranking — a Level 4 — it’s obvious that resources will be needed.
The chief executive officers of the Sierra Vista Regional Health Center and Copper Queen Community Hospital in Bisbee both told our reporter they’re reviewing what it would take to become a trauma center and meet the governor’s order. Sierra Vista’s hospital says it is functioning as a Level 3 trauma receiving facility, though it’s not yet certified.
From our review of the criteria, to get the certification, it will take not only investment in training and organizing staff members, it also will take investment in certain types of equipment. For instance, to be a Level 4 trauma center, the equipment that’s needed includes suction devices, electrocardiography-oscilloscope-defibrillator, communications with emergency vehicles and a rapid infuser system.
While we support the efforts to get local hospitals to be certified trauma center levels, how can the standards be reached if funds aren’t readily available?
Local hospitals, especially those in rural areas, are already feeling stresses in doctor recruitment and providing regular, 24-hour-a-day health care. Maybe that will be addressed in the report to the governor due Dec. 31 regarding the “activities and outcomes of developing an Inclusive Statewide Trauma System” in Arizona.
The state needs the higher level of care in all areas. This eases the burden for the big-city hospitals and provides quicker response to those who are injured or ill.
But the road to get to that point has quite a few questions that need to be answered.
Take a look
Interested in what it takes to be a trauma center? Visit the Arizona Department of Health Service’s trauma center designation site at http://www.azdhs.gov/bems/designation.htm.
Ray wrote on Sep 22, 2008 4:50 PM: