By Paul Wilcoxen
The Southern Illinoisan
CARTERVILLE, Ill. — Southern Illinois Healthcare’s annual Trauma and Critical Care Symposium brought more than 200 providers together Thursday at Walker’s Bluff Casino & Resort.
The event highlighted advances in lifesaving treatment while also showcasing the continued growth of the region’s trauma care system.
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Dr. Roy Danks, medical director of trauma and acute care surgery at SIH, said the symposium is designed to bring every level of emergency medicine into the conversation, from first responders to operating room staff.
“This is a course that’s meant for everybody that’s involved in trauma care in Southern Illinois, from the EMT first responder through the paramedic, ER nurse, all the way up to the ER physician, ER nurses, and even into the operating room and after care,” Danks said.
He said the program’s growth over the last four years shows a strong commitment to trauma care in the region.
“We have just over 200 attendees. The program has grown each year in the past four years, and it shows the commitment to trauma care in Southern Illinois,” he said.
Danks stressed that traumatic injuries are not rare events but a constant reality. “There are 37 million traumatic injuries a year in the U.S., about 2.5 million end up in the hospital because of it,” he said.
“So it’s something that we do see every day with a variety of mechanisms, from car wrecks to falls to gunshots and stabbings.”
Danks said trauma cases have risen every year since the program began, a trend he attributed to both the presence of a local trauma center in Southern Illinois and improvements in ambulance and helicopter transport, which allow patients to reach care more quickly.
“A lot of that speaks to having a trauma center locally in Southern Illinois, but it’s also because of the way transportation has changed for availability of ambulances and helicopters that we can get the patient to us more quickly than we can get the patient to one of the largest cities,” Danks said.
The symposium also featured a community partnership with Toys for Tots, with attendees asked to donate toys instead of paying registration fees.
Danks credited advances in military medicine for influencing civilian trauma care, noting that one of the most significant changes is already saving lives locally.
“One of the biggest gains that we’ve seen and that we’ve employed here in Southern Illinois is the use of whole blood for patients who are bleeding,” he said.
Danks emphasized that SIH stands out in the region because every trauma surgeon at the hospital is fellowship trained in trauma, acute care surgery, and critical care, making it the only Level II Trauma Center in Southern Illinois — and likely the only one in the four-state area — with that level of specialized expertise.
“We are very unique in that we are a Level II Trauma Center, the only one in Southern Illinois, but probably the only Level II Trauma Center in the four-state region that has all trauma critical care trained surgeons,” he said.
Garrett Burton, SIH system director for cardiovascular and trauma services, said patient numbers have risen steadily since the trauma center opened in 2019, though growth has slowed in recent years.
“Year over year, since we became a trauma center on Nov. 4, 2019, we’ve seen a steady increase in trauma patients,” he said. “It’s somewhat plateaued over the last couple of years, but there has been a marginal increase.”
He said training and outreach through events like the symposium have improved patient outcomes by allowing EMS and other hospitals to begin treatment sooner.
“By the time the patient arrives to us, either EMS or these outlying facilities that are not trauma centers, they’ve already initiated some protocols and things like that to help that patient in a better state when we’re presented here, and decreasing the time it takes them to get there,” he said.
Garrett Burton said SIH expanded the symposium’s scope this year by including a maternal trauma presentation, bringing in an OB/GYN to address situations that are less commonly considered but critically important.
“We want to keep it diverse, but then target certain areas that maybe people don’t think about when they think of trauma, you know, like a pregnant lady being involved in trauma,” Burton said. “What does that care look like?”
Garrett Burton said that keeping patients close to home is a critical part of care, noting that high-quality trauma treatment can be provided locally without requiring people to leave their communities.
“You’re receiving that high-quality care right here at home, and then it reduces that burden it has on the rest of the family.”
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