Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital was verified as the first Level II ACS Pediatric Trauma Center in South Carolina
During the recent B106.7FM Children’s Hospital Radiothon, Mary King from our Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals television partner, WIS shared two stories that featured the Pediatric Trauma Center at Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital.
Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital was verified as the first Level II ACS Pediatric Trauma Center in South Carolina. “This demonstrates our commitment to providing the best care for pediatric trauma patients and verifies our Pediatric Trauma Center as a Center of Excellence,” said Amanda Felder, RN, pediatric program manager, Pediatric Trauma Services.
Palmetto Health Richland and Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital have received national trauma verifications from the Verification Review Committee, an ad hoc committee of the Committee of Trauma of the American College of Surgeons (ACS).
Palmetto Health Richland, the only Level I trauma center in the Midlands, recently received re-verification, which is the highest designation for trauma centers by the ACS and the state of South Carolina. Verification is completed every three years. As a Level I trauma center, Palmetto Health has extensive experience, with a team of experts that are standing by 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide the highest level of trauma care.
“Being a Level I trauma center for this region requires a deep commitment. Each year, Palmetto Health invests many resources to ensure patients receive the best possible trauma and emergency care,” said Mark Jones, MD, trauma medical director and trauma surgeon. “Our team works very hard to provide the high level of care the ACS requires and that our community deserves.” The adult trauma surgeons provide care to children 16 and older and serve as backup to the pediatric surgeons to ensure that all children receive the best care.
Verified trauma centers must meet the essential criteria that ensure trauma care capability and institutional performance, as outlined by the ACS Committee on Trauma in its current Resources for Optimal Care of the Injured Patient manual.
Established by the ACS Committee on Trauma in 1987, the consultation/verification program is designed to promote the development of trauma centers in which participants provide the hospital resources necessary to address the trauma needs of all injured patients. The team led by Mandy Felder, Pediatric Trauma Center manager, described the preparation when a trauma call comes in and what happens from the time the child arrives at the Children’s Emergency Department to when he enters the Pediatric Trauma Center.
In late December, 3-year-old Landon Anderson was with his grandmother, Wendy Sanders, on their family farm in Gilbert, S.C., where they have horses. Landon was kicked in the abdomen by one of the horses and was taken to urgent care in Lexington. He then was transported to our Children’s Hospital ER/Pediatric Trauma center. The Trauma care team met Landon when he arrived by ambulance, and they determined within two minutes he needed emergency surgery for internal bleeding. He had a level 4 laceration to his liver and had lost 50% of the blood in his body. He was in extreme critical condition and was near death, but Dr. Juan Camps on the surgery team saved his life. Landon was in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit for several days and then went to a regular patient room before being discharged.
The significance of this designation is affirmation that Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital has the resources to provide optimal care for critically injured patients—through specially trained and staff and specialists, excellent facilities and ongoing self-assessment for quality improvement to care for children who are critically injured (for example, automobile crashes, gunshot wounds, severe falls.)