By Amy Upshaw
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The Trauma Advisory Council on Thursday added two more hospitals, both in Northwest Arkansas, to the list of facilities that will become trauma centers.
Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville and Northwest Medical Center in Bentonville were the latest to apply to become part of the state’s new $25 million trauma system. Sixty-nine other facilities already have been approved.
The advisory council’s unanimous vote Thursday to include the two northwest hospitals means the Arkansas Department of Health can move forward with getting legislative approval for startup grants to those hospitals.
The first grants, expected to be given in early November, will range from $25,000 to $500,000. The money will help hospitals pay for additional staff, training or equipment they’ll need to meet standards under the new system.
Both facilities asked to be Level III centers, which means they won’t have to have as many specialists on hand as some of the higherlevel hospitals but must be able to provide emergency resuscitation, surgery and intensive care of most trauma patients.
Robert Atkinson of the Arkansas Hospital Association, who is a member of the council, expressed surprise by the level the hospitals wished to be designated.
“I’m surprised neither of these institutions tried to be a Level II,” Atkinson said, adding that Northwest Arkansas still needs a higher-level facility.
Dr. James Graham, council chairman and chief of emergency medicine at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, said the council has spoken with several hospitals in that part of the state to encourage them to seek a higher level designation. Such a designation would require more specialists to be available around the clock.
“I’m pleased that finally several of the hospitals there have decided to be part of the [trauma] system,” Graham said, adding that he is still hopeful hospitals in that area will step forward and ask for higher designations.
The new trauma system, which was signed into law March 13, will link hospitals, first responders and other emergency medical services with statewide communications systems and a common set of rules to guide emergency care.
The goal is to ensure that patients throughout the state get the care they need as quickly as possible after a car accident, gunshot wound or other traumatic injury.
Copyright 2009 Little Rock Newspapers, Inc.