HOLSTON VALLEY MARKS 20 YEARS OF SAVING LIVES THROUGH LEVEL I TRAUMA SERVICES
KINGSPORT – Holston Valley Medical Central is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its Level I trauma center, a service that was born to save lives hanging in the balance.
When Holston Valley’s trauma unit received Level I certification from the state of Tennessee in early 1988, it became the first Level I trauma center in Northeast Tennessee. It was a regional first then – and it’s a life-saving treasure now.
“The level of sophisticated care that Holston Valley offers to this community is usually present only in communities of half a million people or more,” said Dr. Cory Siffring, medical director of trauma/surgical critical care at Holston Valley. “The fact that we have a hospital that’s willing to dedicate resources normally reserved for a population of 10 times this size is unusual.”
The sophisticated, rapid medical care available at Holston Valley has saved countless lives ever since. Patients are transported to Holston Valley’s trauma center because their injuries – often from car wrecks, but also from such things as gunshot wounds and major falls – are so critical that death could be imminent.
Leaders from Holston Valley and Wellmont Health System, the business community and elected public officials gathered Tuesday near Holston Valley’s new trauma house to get a measure of the Level I trauma center’s worth. A dramatic video was presented that illustrated, through the story of an actual patient, the depth and breadth of the resources devoted to trauma services at Holston Valley. And trauma patients whose lives were saved at Holston Valley helped cut a ribbon to the new trauma house, which is one facet of the hospital’s Project Platinum expansion.
Dr. Siffring said it is important to mark the 20 years of service for several reasons: the historical importance, the opportunity to further educate the public on trauma care and to thank the hospital and the community for their commitment to maintaining a life-sustaining service.
“My hope is that everyone understands what a community resource a Level I trauma center is,” Dr. Siffring said. “It’s a resource every bit as important as knowing whether someone will respond when your house is burning down. Imagine if your house was burning down and the fire department was two hours away. It’s the same way with a Level I trauma center – you need rapid response.
“Everyone should be proud of the commitment by the community and the hospital that has kept this service going for 20 years.”
Holston Valley is actually increasing the resources dedicated to trauma services as part of Project Platinum. The new trauma house is the first of two houses that will be dedicated to trauma staff; the second will provide call rooms for trauma surgeons, surgical residents and medical students from East Tennessee State University. Also this year, trauma services was renamed the department of trauma/surgical critical care to reflect its increased responsibilities in the realm of non-trauma intensive care.
Blaine Douglas, president of Holston Valley, said the hospital and Wellmont Health System regard Level I trauma care as a healthcare service that is indispensable because of its impact. Wellmont is the only health system in the state with two trauma centers – Bristol Regional Medical Center operates a Level II trauma center.
“The level of trauma services we’re able to provide to the region is the result of the dedication of many years by so many people,” Douglas said. “A Level I trauma service is expensive to maintain – to do it well requires enormous resources. But it’s easy to justify the rationale for maintaining excellent trauma services. If you just ask yourself the question – ‘How much is one life worth?’ – you have the answer. Because Level I trauma does save lives.”
The scope of trauma care
Holston Valley’s 20th celebration provides a fine moment to examine what trauma care is and why it is so important for the hospital to offer it. Any examination of trauma services could start with talk of the “golden hour” – the hour between life and death for a critically injured person – and Sherry Crase is a living, breathing example of the term’s relevancy.
On the way to her father’s funeral, the Bristol mother of three was in a car accident on Sept. 6, 2007, that left her with catastrophic injuries. She received rapid transport to Holston Valley’s Level I trauma center, where trauma surgeon Dr. Kim Hendershot provided immediate care. Crase had an injury to her diaphragm, trauma to her spleen, a pelvis fracture and a torn aorta.
Dr. Robert Harris, an orthopedic traumatologist, worked with the trauma team to stabilize Crase’s pelvis fracture, an injury so severe that without immediate intervention, she could have bled uncontrollably. Dr. Cary Meyers, a cardiothoracic surgeon, repaired the tear in her aorta.
“I think with the severity of her injuries,” Dr. Hendershot said, “there was a chance where she might not have been able to make it.”
Through the combined efforts of the trauma team, Crase did survive. Her recovery involved a long stay – four months at Holston Valley – and a legion of medical professionals who exemplify the layers of care that comprise trauma services. Rapid transport – made possible by Holston Valley’s partnerships with advance responders throughout the region, as well as flight services by WellmontOne Air Ambulance and Med-Flight II – gets this life-saving process started, and myriad layers of care may be involved when the patient arrives.
“In a Level I trauma center where we get a lot of patients from difference areas of our region, we get patients who have multiple system injury,” said trauma surgeon Dr. George Testerman. “That is, they may have ortho injuries, chest injuries, abdominal injuries and so forth. We have a multi-dimensional team where we all work together for one purpose and that’s to get the patient through the injuries and get them better and back on track so they can lead a normal lifestyle again.”
The purpose Dr. Testerman speaks of bore out in the case of Crase. Because of rapid, interventional care, she did not die. Because of a multi-disciplinary team that oversaw her care over several weeks, she returned to her children to lead a normal life.
“I know Holston Valley is a really good hospital,” Crase said, “and I was very lucky to be sent down there.”
Trauma care – the need and the ramifications
Rosalee Sites was the first clinical director of trauma services at Holston Valley. She remembers the physicians who pushed hard for the program’s establishment – men like Drs. Steve Wilson, Michael Stein and William Hudson, still a renowned physician in Holston Valley’s emergency department.
“There were some forward thinkers who pushed for trauma designation,” said Sites, who noted that it took two years to align all the resources and processes to receive Level I certification. “If you are in a major, major accident, you’ve got to have very specialized care quickly. They talk about ‘the golden hour,’ and it’s very real. The average person might not know that, but it gives me a secure feeling living here and knowing that the trauma team is there 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and can spring into action any time.”
Dr. Siffring, who moved here from Minnesota two years ago, goes even further with that notion. People who are choosing where to live, he said, should consider their proximity to a trauma center before buying a home.
“People move from place to place because the schools are better,” Dr. Siffring said, “but compared to the level of education you can get from place to place, the variability of whether you have a trauma center close by has a far greater chance of affecting your life than whether your school has one more computer lab. And the overall importance of a trauma center is more important when you’re younger. The chances of you dying before you’re 45 from anything other than trauma are very slim.
“If you don’t have a Level I trauma center, one-third more people will die than needed. One-third. I’ve got six children living here, and I wouldn’t want to live a long way from a major trauma center.”
This service that depends on rapid application of expertise is swiftly moving toward even greater things. This year, Holston Valley added a new injury prevention coordinator, Melissa Hamilton, who will advance community safety initiatives. Based on an educational DVD called “Choices,” which Holston Valley produced to encourage students to make smart, safe decisions, the state of Tennesseee asked Hamilton to submit an application for Bristol and Kingsport to become listed as Safe Communities of America – only four other communities in the United States have received the designation.
Sharon Littleton was an ER nurse when Sites recruited her to Holston Valley in 1987. Now trauma program manager, Littleton, a nurse who has watched the service grow from infancy, is encouraged about its future.
“I’m proud of where we’ve been, where we are and where we’re going,” Littleton said. “When you look at the care we’ve provided over the years and the improvements we’ve made, the partnerships we’ve formed with EMS providers around the region, it makes you look forward to what’s in store in the years ahead. There are so many people on the trauma team, and it’s a special feeling because you know you’re part of something that’s greater than yourself.”