Trauma injuries, usually from car accidents, gun and knife violence, or falls, are the leading cause of death for people under 45. Victims treated at trauma centers have a 25 percent higher survival rate compared to those seen in hospitals without those services, according to a New England Journal of Medicine study.
As a newly designated Level IV Trauma Center, Aiken Regional will be prepared to provide support in those life-threatening events including evaluation, stabilization, and diagnostic capabilities. The hospital is prepared to care for patients with acute injuries, as well as multiple injuries endured from a fall, a motor vehicle accident, heart attacks, and other trauma.
“As a Trauma Center, there are strict designation requirements that require us to have an organized team to promptly respond to traumatic injuries,” said Lorenzo Sampson, MD, FACS, Medical Director of Trauma at Aiken Regional Medical Centers.
Aiken Regional will have a team of trauma surgeons, emergency medicine physicians, trauma-trained nurses, anesthesiologists, and operating room personnel available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to evaluate and treat any injury.
The significance of a Level IV designation means the hospital joins a Trauma System of facilities that provide a spectrum of care to injured patients including collaboration with EMS agencies throughout the region and with other Trauma Centers in the event a patient may need to be transferred to or from another facility to receive a higher level of comprehensive care.
The highest designation for trauma centers is Level I, a comprehensive regional resource, capable of providing total care for every aspect of injury – from prevention through rehabilitation. In the CSRA, the only Level I facility is Augusta University Medical Center.
The upside for Aiken County is that minutes count for trauma injuries, especially for some of the more remote areas of the county. At the very least, Aiken Regional’s Level IV designation will begin the treatment process even if patients must eventually be transferred to Level I or even Level II trauma centers, like Doctors Hospital of Augusta.
Affordable housing, quality of schools, and health care are all big considerations for families who move to the CSRA and for businesses looking to relocate to the area.
Editor’s Note:
Mitzi Oxford is a veteran broadcaster and features writer who also worked at the same television station in Columbus, Georgia as Augusta’s Brad Means!
If you have a South Carolina story idea for Mitzi, please email her at mitzioxfordcreative@gmail.com.
