On May 10, 1999, Altoona Hospital\u2019s Board of Trustees unanimously agreed to proceed with the development of a trauma center at the hospital. According to a study by an outside consulting firm, this region desperately needed that type of medical service. Patients in our region had the longest transportation times to an accredited trauma center in the state of Pennsylvania.
\nAltoona Hospital\u2019s Regional Trauma Center was established in July 2001, the center received its first site survey by the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation. After that survey, a one year provisional trauma center accreditation was granted. During that first year, trauma services provided quality care to more than 1,000 trauma patients from this area.
\nThe creation of the trauma center provides the surrounding 14 counties with a valuable service by decreasing the time for patients to obtain lifesaving services.
\nA second survey was conducted in June of this year and on Oct. 1, Altoona Hospital\u2019s Regional Trauma Center was accredited completely for a full year period by the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation, which confirmed the provided excellence in trauma care by Altoona Hospital.
\nThe Altoona Hospital Regional Trauma Center is one of only 26 fully accredited trauma centers in Pennsylvania. This trauma center is an integral component of the emergency medical services system that manages patient care from the time of injury to treatment at a local hospital and\/or trauma center and through the rehabilitative phase.
\nAltoona Hospital\u2019s trauma surgeons are supported by the hospital\u2019s experienced general surgeons, emergency medicine physicians and many other trauma professionals. The team of Simon Lampard, MD, FACS; Thomas L. Bass, MD; R. Scott Magley, MD, FACEP, MMM; and countless others, works together to deliver more help and more hope to trauma patients and families.
\nThe celebration held Wednesday acknowledged the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation\u2019s reaccreditation of the Altoona Hospital Regional Trauma Center and also recognized the one-year anniversary of trauma services at Altoona Hospital.
\nAlong with many distinguished guests in attendance, Lieutenant Governor\/Senator Robert C. Jubelirer presented a keynote address and U.S. Senator Rick Santorum spoke of the importance of a trauma center in our region.
\nHospital Spokesman Ron McConnell stated, \u201cOur purpose today is to recognize the dedication, skill and hard work put forth by this entire institution and our partners throughout our service area, becoming a Regional Trauma Center has changed Altoona Hospital for the better and the type of services we\u2019re able to provide to our residents.\u201d
\nLee Hite, vice-chairman of the board of trustees at Altoona Hospital explained the importance of time when a trauma situation occurs, which is one reason why a trauma center was needed closer to this area.
\n\u201cThe \u2018Golden Hour\u2019 is that window of opportunity certainly necessary for any trauma patient,\u201d said Hite. \u201cThe quicker a patient receives the specialized care of trauma from a trauma team during that \u2018Golden Hour,\u2019 the better are the prospects of recovery.\u201d
\nAfter an accident, the first 60 minutes are considered the \u2018Golden Hour.\u2019 At the Altoona Hospital Regional Trauma Center, teams work together to maximize care during that first hour and every minute thereafter.
\n\u201cThe fact that we put this program together now has made a difference, it\u2019s saved lives and it really gives patients that are affected by trauma the opportunity in the \u2018Golden Hour\u2019 to get critical, life saving care that here before they couldn\u2019t get,\u201d said James W. Barner, president and CEO of Altoona Hospital.
\nHe added, \u201cNo single person or no single department works alone, instead in this institution, in a trauma program, each employee makes a critical contribution to the care of the trauma patient.\u201d
\nThe first year of the trauma service confirmed in resounding fashion that a trauma center in our region would greatly enhance a trauma patient\u2019s chance of survival. Andrea Cook, a speaker at Wednesday\u2019s event, was \u2018living\u2019 proof that the Altoona Hospital Regional Trauma Center saved her life after a violent automobile accident in February 2002.
\nThe STAT MedEvac helicopter service raced to the scene where Dr. Magley was already at the scene. After being extricated from the automobile, Cook was airlifted to the Altoona Hospital Regional Trauma Center.
\nAfter extensive surgery and more than a week in intensive care, Cook began therapy to restore her life. At yesterday\u2019s celebration, she extended her thanks to everyone who was involved in saving her life.
\n\u201cFirst I would like to extend my immeasurable thanks to Dr. Magley for saving my life and to Dr. McGovern for sustaining it, but also I want to thank the entire staff and personnel of this hospital to contributing to my miraculous recovery,\u201d said Cook.
\nIn Lieutenant Governor\/Senator Jubelirer\u2019s keynote address, he shared a similar story of Cook\u2019s dealing with his own son who was struck on his bicycle by a vehicle at the age of 15. Jubelirer\u2019s son was in a coma for nearly five days, but thankfully today he lives and functions very well.
\nThere was no trauma unit at that time, but still the skills of the doctors then were extremely important in saving Jubelirer\u2019s son\u2019s life.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s going to save a lot of lives, we\u2019re fortunate to have a trauma center here,\u201d said Jubelirer. \u201cThe commitment made by the board of trustees and the doctors at Altoona Hospital is a significant one clearly.\u201d
\nHe added, \u201cTo be able to have the kind of unit they have here is not only an advantage in saving lives, but as we go out and try to recruit jobs and companies to come in here, they look at what health care facilities we have, and this is a major drawing card, so we\u2019re very fortunate to have it.\u201d
\nSenator Rick Santorum said that it is vitally important to have access to good quality trauma care, especially in rural areas where most of the occupations of people deal with physical activities, so work place trauma is much more likely.
\n\u201cCertainly there is a great need for trauma care because it is important for rural areas to have this and obviously we have one here in Altoona, which is an outstanding center,\u201d said Santorum. \u201cIt is great for the people of central Pennsylvania.\u201d
\nThe Altoona Hospital Regional Trauma Center brings tremendous medical care resources to the most under-served area of the state of Pennsylvania. Time is life in trauma care and the trauma center uses that as its logo.
\n\u201cIt represents a tremendous effort by the entire hospital community,\u201d said Dr. Lampard. \u201cAll of us sit here and get the praise, but there\u2019s hundreds of people who have spent countless hours of work to go through the review process from the state and receive this full two year accreditation.\u201d
\nHe added, \u201cI cannot emphasize enough that it is a multi-disciplinary team approach that maintains our focus to provide exceptional and quality care.\u201d
\nNow there are more reasons than ever before to have hope. Altoona Hospital\u2019s Regional Trauma Center is staffed by the best and is ready for the worst. Teamwork, experience, excellent facilities, state-of-the-art equipment, and a compassionate, caring community ensure excellence in care from admittance through rehabilitation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On May 10, 1999, Altoona Hospital\u2019s Board of Trustees unanimously agreed to proceed with the development of a trauma center at the hospital. According to a study by an outside consulting firm, this region desperately needed that type of medical service. Patients in our region had the longest transportation times to an accredited trauma center […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47908\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}