As a Level II Trauma Center, our emergency room is one of the busiest in the city, handling more than 83,000 visits a year.
Over the past several months, the Trauma Department, which handles the most critical or severe injuries in the ER, expanded in two areas. The first change is the introduction of an in-house, 24/7 surgeon who completes a staff of five surgeons and two nurse practitioners.
“No matter the time, day or night, there is always a trauma-trained doctor ready to care for patients who’ve experienced traumatic injuries,” said Jeffrey Simpson, MD, trauma medical director. “We are often ready to go before the patient even arrives at the hospital.”
One case that Dr. Simpson recalls was a patient who had been shot and arrived by ambulance. The patient went straight to surgery where doctors saved the patient’s life from what is usually a fatal injury.
“Patients can take comfort in knowing that if they have a traumatic injury, they will have a doctor dedicated to caring for them from the time they arrive,” Dr. Simpson said.
Simultaneously, the department has increased on-site education offerings. Trauma Prevention and Outreach Coordinator Lori Unruh, BSN, RN, and Emergency Management Program Manager Carl Zornes, are active in the community leading free classes like Keep Your Keys, which helps attendees recognize the cognitive, medical and visual symptoms that can impair driving, and the Stop the Bleed class which covers tourniquet use and wound triage.
Our outreach staff casts a wide net across the Northland and beyond, providing injury prevention classes to Harrison County, which borders Iowa, and Carroll County, which is almost halfway between Kansas City and Columbia.
“We have a two-pronged approach for dealing with trauma,” Dr. Simpson said. “We’re not only providing comprehensive care for trauma victims, but we’re also aiming to prevent injuries from happening in the first place. Through education, we hope to save somebody a lot of time, pain and discomfort, but if someone is injured, we’re here.”
Check out our current calendar of classes at nkch.org/Class. To invite an outreach team member to your location, call 816.691.1443.