GOLDEN TRAUMA HOUR GONE FOR SOME PATIENTS - CAMC's Trauma Status Could Be Restored

(09/16/2002)

Since Charleston Area Medical Center lost Trauma I status in August, at least twenty trauma patients from southern West Virginia had to bypass Charleston and go to WVU Hospital, adding 55-minutes to the HealthNet chopper flight. Others have been sent to hospitals in Huntington and Lexington, Kentucky. The additional time walks over the "golden hour" for trauma care, increasing the risk of death. In at least one case, a Fayette County man suffering from multiple-trauma in a car accident, was first sent to CAMC and then died on WVU's operating table, It would be difficult to know if he would have survived had he been treated in Charleston, but the "golden hour" was compromised. West Virginia University Hospital, unlike most hospitals in the state, claim they need more beds, and currently have a $74 million application for 72 more units. Gov. Bob Wise is meeting with CAMC officials to try and restore the hospital's trauma status, and news reports say a solution might be in the making within two weeks. Numerous cases of transfers from the Kanawha County area have occurred at CAMC, but rural counties throughout southern and central West Virginia, may be more seriously impacted because of the time frames.

Hur Herald ®from Sunny Cal The information on these pages, to the extent the law allows, remains the exclusive property of Bob Weaver and Dianne Weaver The Hur Herald. All information may be freely used but must not be sold or used in any type of commercial endeavor, or used on any web site without the express permission of the owners ©Bob and Dianne Weaver, The Hur Herald, 1999, 2000, 2001