![]() Smith arrived inside the trauma center on a gurney, alert, wearing a neck brace and feeling lucky. He crashed into the side of the truck, and an ambulance that happened to be nearby drove him to UMC. Jeff Smith, 58, said he was driving near Losee Road and Cheyenne Avenue facing a green light when a truck ran a red light. Medical director of Las Vegas Motor Speedway, chairman of the University of Nevada School of Medicine’s Department of Emergency Medicine and former FBI agent, he instantly strikes up a conversation with able patients - asking them about their lives, work and families. Dale Carrison, chief of staff and an emergency medicine physician.Ĭarrison, a towering figure with a careful gait and watchful eye, has been with UMC for about 25 years.Ĭarrison is known for his for his bedside manner, but his diverse background may be what helps him get along with a wide array of patients. “Everything is ready to go, right here,” said Dr. Though UMC’s trauma center is generally busiest in the afternoon or evening, it takes only one bad moment for the quiet room to shift into a bustling crowd of nurses prepping patients, technicians performing tests and doctors overseeing the commotion. “They made me feel pretty nice,” he said. ![]() He complimented the care he received at UMC. “It still hurts, just not as bad of course,” he said of the wound nearly two weeks later. The tip of his thumb was cut off from the base of the nail and up. When staff there couldn’t treat the wound, he was transported to UMC. When his finger got caught in a machine at the chocolate factory where he works, Houston was taken to a Henderson hospital, he said. Bandaging covered Houston’s thumb as Foley walked him through hospital paperwork. Lying on a bed near the rear of the trauma center, 36-year-old Dewayne Houston waited quietly to be discharged. “Then some of the folks come in, and you think, ‘Dude, what were you thinking?’” The trauma center has a 96 percent survival rate for patients who arrive alive within an hour of the traumatic incident.įoley, who mixes humor and compassion when engaging with patients, often monitors the radio, which alerts the staff to new cases from the heartbreaking to the absurd. It serves a 10,000-square-mile region covering parts of Arizona, California and Utah. UMC’s trauma center, the only Level 1 trauma center in Nevada, can treat the least and most severely injured trauma patients. “The big thing here is we never know what’s going to come through the door,” said registered nurse Jim Foley, just a few hours into a 12-hour shift on May 27, the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. The wall provides just a snapshot of what the hospital’s trauma center does every day, Cohen said. “We want the family members to walk by here and say, ‘You know what? There is hope,’” UMC spokeswoman Danita Cohen said.īut the photos are also a nod to the work of UMC’s staff. The pictures celebrate the patients’ accomplishments, and the hospital hopes displaying photos of people who’ve survived life-threatening injuries can offer a semblance of encouragement to current patients and their families. Typically have sufficient resources to stabilize the patient and transfer to a higher level center.LAS VEGAS (AP) - In a hallway just outside the doors of University Medical Center’s trauma center, the words “Wall of Hope” rest above photos of recovering former patients. Typically have resources to stabilize and treat most patients but will have to transfer patients for more in depth or specialized care. Seriously injured patients have an increased survival rate of 25% in comparison to those not treated at a Level 1 center. Level 1 Trauma Centers provide the highest level of trauma care to critically ill or injured patients. Treat more than 750 trauma patients each year.Support a Surgical Residency program, another way in which team members stay current with the latest treatment methods.Provide ongoing educational opportunities for every member of the trauma team.Participate in research programs to ensure that the latest treatment and care methods are provided.An extensive process improvement program to ensure the highest quality is required as well as to continuously monitor the process of accessing and delivering the highest quality patient care.Īdditional requirements for Level 1 designation: Transfer of patients occurs only on rare occasions when an extremely specialized service is required, but this is rare. Level 1 Trauma Centers are required to have immediately available all resources to stabilize and definitively treat even the most complex traumatic injuries. Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center's Level 1 Regional Resource Trauma Center has maintained the highest level of designation since 2002. Trauma centers range from the highest level designation, Level 1, to the lowest, Level 4.
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