CRMC to be level 1 trauma center

Chandler Regional Medical Center will begin operating as a level 1 trauma center with provisional status March 24.

Before now, critically injured patients in the region were transported to Phoenix or Scottsdale for treatment.

“Minutes can mean the difference between life and death in these situations,” said Dr. Forrest Moore, trauma medical director at Chandler Regional. “Now those patients who would have lost time in transfer will receive care in the timeframe that can save lives and dramatically improve outcomes.”

Trauma patients include those injured in motor vehicle or bike accidents, ATV collisions, crush injuries or falls. They can also include patients who have been stabbed or have a gunshot wound. These types of traumatic injuries are the leading cause of death for people ages 1 to 44 in the U.S. and in Arizona.

Of those injured traumatically in Pinal County in 2012, only 10 percent were transported to a level 1 trauma center within an hour of being injured.

Chandler Regional’s trauma center is equipped with advanced technology and dedicated trauma operating rooms, and partners and coordinates with emergency medical service responders to provide critical care 24 hours a day to the traumatically injured. The trauma team is made up of medical professionals specially trained to respond to injured patients, and includes anesthesiologists, emergency physicians, hand surgeons, neurosurgeons, orthopedic surgeons, plastic surgeons, trauma critical care surgeons, nurses and ancillary services.