Bronson Re-verified as Level I Trauma Center

October 28, 2011

Bronson Re-verified as Level I Trauma Center

KALAMAZOO, Mich. –Bronson Methodist Hospital was recently re-verified by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) as a Level I Trauma Center.  Level I, the highest category of verification, is granted only after a thorough on-site review to confirm the hospital is providing the highest quality trauma care for all injured patients.  Bronson has successfully met the ACS’s increasingly difficult re-verification standards every three years since it became the region’s first Level I Trauma Center in 1989.

Bronson is currently southwest Michigan’s largest trauma and emergency center treating more than 1,500 trauma patients and 85,000 emergency patients each year. The hospital is also a leader in injury prevention, public education and research which includes working directly with local and regional emergency medical response (EMS) agencies to provide education and training for first responders.

Bronson’s trauma program serves as a central resource for a nine-county area in southwest Michigan and the northern counties of Indiana. Bronson staff work closely with community hospitals throughout this region to coordinate the safe, timely transfer of patients who require the expertise and resources available only at a Level I Trauma Center.

“To be a Level I Trauma Center requires exceptional coordination of care and a substantial investment of resources. In the past several years, hundreds of trauma centers across the country have closed because hospitals have been unable to sustain them,” says Frank J. Sardone, Bronson president and CEO. “At Bronson, we are fully committed to providing this essential system of care that those who are critically injured in our region need and deserve.”

As a Level I Trauma Center, Bronson has the dedicated staff and services in place to provide immediate care for critically injured adults and children, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The program includes a full-service emergency department and broad spectrum of medical staff including a trauma surgery team, orthopedists, neurosurgeons, neurologists, anesthesiologists, radiologists, thoracic surgeons, pediatric surgeons, specialized nursing and ancillary staff in the hospital, around the clock.

A trauma is any life-threatening occurrence, either accidental or intentional, that causes injuries. Common causes of trauma include motor vehicle crashes, falls, burns, knife and gunshot wounds and sport or recreational injuries. Research shows that those who suffer trauma – the leading cause of death for Americans age 34 and under – have the best chance of survival if they reach the hospital within one hour of injury. The ‘golden hour’ is a term coined in emergency medicine. It refers to the time span following a traumatic injury when death can best be prevented by fast and effective medical treatment.

“When a critically injured patient comes to the hospital, our team of specialists is immediately ready to provide life-saving care,” says Scott Davidson, MD, FACS, medical director of Trauma Surgery Services at Bronson. “For the last two decades, Bronson has been committed to providing the highest level of care possible for trauma patients in the region. We have a great team of dedicated professionals in place to handle any type of serious illness or injury.”

About Bronson Methodist Hospital

Bronson Methodist Hospital, located at 601 John St. in downtown Kalamazoo, Mich., is the flagship of Bronson Healthcare Group, a not-for-profit healthcare system serving all of southwest Michigan and northern Indiana. With 405 licensed beds and all private rooms, Bronson Methodist Hospital provides care in virtually every specialty — cardiology, orthopedics, surgery, emergency medicine, neurology, oncology — with advanced capabilities in critical care as a Level I Trauma Center; in neurological care as a Joint Commission certified Primary Stroke Center; in cardiac care as the region’s first accredited Chest Pain Emergency Center; in obstetrics as the leading BirthPlace and only high-risk pregnancy center in southwest Michigan, and in pediatrics as one of only six children's hospitals in the state.

Bronson serves the largest percentage of Medicaid patients in the area and provides a substantial benefit to the community through outreach and charitable care. It is the recipient of the 2005 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation's highest presidential honor for quality and organizational performance excellence.  In 2009, the hospital received the AHA McKesson Quest for Quality Prize awarded annually to only one U.S. hospital and joined the top five percent of hospitals in the nation to be designated a Magnet Hospital for Nursing Excellence. Bronson is currently ranked in the top five percent of hospitals in the nation as a 2010-11 HealthGrades Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence and is one of the nation's 100 Top Hospitals for 2011 according to Thomson Reuters. For more information, visit bronsonhealth.com.

About The American College of Surgeons

The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational association of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical education and practice and to improve the care of the surgical patient. The College has over 72,000 members and it is the largest association of surgeons in the world. Longstanding achievements have placed the ACS in the forefront of American surgery and have made it an important advocate for all surgical patients. visit facs.org.