ANDERSON — Community Hospital Anderson is now part of an elite network across the state designed to help save people suffering from traumatic injuries.
“The goal behind this is to improve the care of trauma patients not only in our county, but also statewide,” said Dr. Ben McCurdy, a surgeon with Community Hospital Anderson.
Following a verification process by the American College of Surgeons in July, Community was designated by the Indiana State Department of Health as a Level III trauma center.
The hospital is one of only 11 Level III trauma centers in Indiana, and the second in Madison County. The certification is for three years.
“There were some changes made here and there to improve the flow of care, but we did not change physicians and we have the same capabilities of doing what we have always done here,” McCurdy said. “It helped us improve the flow of trauma care and to have checks and balances or to have accountability and observation of it so you can see where the quality trauma care isn’t happening and you can improve upon that.”
The Indiana State Trauma Care Committee lists injuries as the leading cause of death for people across the state between the ages of 1 to 44 and the fifth leading cause of death for people of any age. The agency also estimates that more than 32,000 Hoosiers are hospitalized and more than 600,000 visit emergency departments for injuries each year.
In 2014, more than $214 billion was spent on fatal injuries nationwide while nonfatal injuries accounted for over $457 billion in expenses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
McCurdy said the American College of Surgeons provides a verification process to designate hospitals with different levels of trauma care.
“They recognized throughout the country that there was a lack in the flow of good quality trauma care so they instituted this whole process of different levels of care,” he said The American College of Surgeons recognizes Levels I, II, III and IV, based on its criteria, for healthcare facilities to achieve verification as a trauma facility.
“We are a Level III, with a Level I being the highest level in the state,” McCurdy said.
There are three Level I trauma centers for adults in the state: Eskenazi Health, Indiana University Methodist Hospital and St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital, all located in Indianapolis.
The different levels refer to the resources available and the number of patients admitted yearly to each hospital. The American College of Surgeons evaluates the commitment, readiness, resources, policies, patient care and performance improvement of a facility that is required for a trauma center to be verified through the state.
Mark Rohlfing, trauma program manager at Community Hospital Anderson, said the main distinction between Level I and Level II trauma centers is based on research designation.
“A Level I is required to put out a certain number of researches every year,” he said. “Otherwise, Level I and Level II really provide the same level of care for their patients.”
He said being a verified trauma center challenges the hospital and its staff to “do more.”
“I think it pushes us to the front edge of things,” Rohlfing said. “Because we are getting the education, because we are going to conferences, we are hearing what is going on in other places. It forces you to ask, ‘How can we do this better?’
“I think it influences care in a lot of ways.”
Joni Brinkman, director of the emergency department for Community Hospital Anderson, said ongoing training is required for all trauma centers.
“The nurses, physicians, surgeons — everyone has more education and we are better qualified to take care of the patients.”
Michele Hockwalt, a marketing and communications manager at Community Hospital Anderson, said the verification is a huge achievement for the hospital and aligns well with the hospital’s mission to provide quality healthcare services within the community.
“We are really proud of it,” she said.