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How Mary Washington Hospital's new trauma service worked for one accident victim Date published: 9/19/2008
BY JIM HALL Mary Washington Hospital became a Level II trauma center this week. But the state designation simply makes official a type of care that has quietly been offered at the Fredericksburg hospital for several months. Hospital officials were hesitant to publicize that fact, for fear that they would seem presumptuous during the Virginia Department of Health's permitting process. But the first trauma surgeon arrived at the hospital about a year ago, and three others arrived this spring and summer. Since then, Mary Washington has been a trauma center in all but name. One example of what this means for patients can be found in the aftermath of a three-vehicle auto accident that happened in Spotsylvania County on Sept. 3. Tami May's mother was injured in that crash. May's mother is a resident of Fredericksburg and in her 60s. She has a history of medical problems, including problems with her breathing. May asked that her mother's name not be used since she is still in the intensive-care unit. "She had some pretty intense injuries," May said. But May said she wanted to talk publicly about what happened to her mother at the hospital and what that might mean for others in the community. "My past experience with Mary Washington has not been the most stellar," May said this week. "I was a little concerned about how she would be handled." But May said that the staff there has kept her informed at each step in her mother's treatment, and that her confidence in them has grown. "These people in the trauma unit, the ER doctor, everybody who's worked with my mom, has been phenomenal," May said. May said her mother was a passenger in the front seat of a vehicle that crashed on U.S. 1 at Cosner's Corner. She suffered a ruptured spleen, a broken arm, broken ribs and a punctured lung. May said her mother was taken by ambulance to the emergency department, where Dr. Joel Goodwin, one of the hospital's new trauma surgeons, met her and has helped coordinate her care. May said that an imaging scan revealed that her mother was bleeding internally, so she was taken to the interventional radiology department. There a doctor inserted a catheter into one of her arteries and guided it to her spleen. The doctor embolized the wound by placing small coils there to stop the bleeding. May said her mother went from the radiology section to the intensive-care unit, where she remains. Goodwin, the trauma doctor, has continued to help care for her, she said. May said that having trauma care in Fredericksburg made a difference for her mother, since her family could be close to her the entire time. "If she had to be transported someplace else, her anxiety would have increased, which would have made her breathing more labored," she added. May said she hopes that her mother will be released from the hospital soon. "I believe she's on the way to recovery," she said. Jim Hall: 540/374-5433
Read more stories about Fredericksburg Date published: 9/19/2008
john1315: I'd rather have a paid EMS person rather than a volunteer EMS person. I've seen the sloppiness of some EMS technicians around here (Stafford county). Quite frankly, I'd rather have Stafford go all paid EMS personnel. And yes, I'd rather have Falmouth over White Oak. If I could pick and choose, I would.
Perhaps you'd like to decide which EMTs and fire department responds to your life threatening emergency also. The people who respond and treat you are the same from the highest profile surgeons at Johns Hopkins all the way down to the Spotsylvania paramedics, they have chosen careers that save lives. If you believe the people at Potomac or Fairfax are any more qualified at saving lives then you don't have any clue what you're talking about.
If I need trauma care, don't bother stopping at MWH. Take me to Potomac Hospital in Woodbridge or INOVA Fairfax. Or maybe the new hospital that's going in in Massaponax. But please don't take me to MWH if my life depends on it.
Note that this huge undertaking was done without adding any more rooms to the ER. They do not have the space for this. I have no doubts about the ability of the staff but the expansion they did 9 years ago is outgrown. That wouldn't be the case if people would learn what constitutes an emergency!
Although this has been long awaited, the wait times now will be astronomical for basic emergencies with an influx of critical cases. Especially for the weekends and holidays. Its an overcrowded small hospital that serves a large area, It will be an awakening.
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