St. James upgrades trauma care

By Tim Trainor - 11/15/2008

Walter Hinick / The Montana Standard Butte surgeon Dr. Frank Raiser and trauma coordinator, Registered Nurse Robin Foley see St. James Healthcare better filling the need for trauma care after recently being designated as a Level III trauma center by the American College of Surgeons.

St. James Healthcare received an improved trauma designation that will allow the hospital to treat all but the most serious of brain injuries. Trauma coordinator and nurse Robin Foley had been working since 2003 to enhance the hospital's designation.

This year, the work finally paid off.

The American College of Surgeons named the hospital a Level III trauma center, a step up from the hospital's previous classification.

"It's a big deal," said Dr. Frank Raiser, St. James Healthcare's trauma director. "The designation shows a commitment to the community and region." And a need certainly exists for trauma care in the area, the two said, because southwest Montana is such a popular outdoor recreational area.

"We see a ton of motor vehicle injuries," Raiser said. "But we are ready for them. We have a pretty comprehensive facility for high-level trauma treatment." Raiser said the hospital sees patients suffering from severe trauma on almost a daily basis. These include injuries from car accidents, gunshots, stabbings, fist fights and falls.

Trauma centers are ranked on a scale of I-IV, with Level I institutions providing the best trauma care. A Level III hospital does not have the full availability of specialists, but does have resources for emergency resuscitation, surgery and intensive care for most trauma patients, according the College of Surgeons.

"Because we can now treat nearly all types of trauma right here in Butte, patients don't often need to be transported to another hospital," Foley said.

That makes care safer and less costly, and it may also make St. James busier.

Raiser said area hospitals, including St. Peter's in Helena, that do not have Level III trauma centers will look increasingly to Butte for care of their injured patients.

"We're improving our relationships with area hospitals," he said. "St. James has the potential to be the trauma center for southwest Montana." If that were the case, the hospital would need to improve its transportation infrastructure. It has a heliport, but it would have to purchase a helicopter and add other improvements.

It would need to add more personnel, too.

Raiser said a third surgeon will be on board next year to join him and Dr. Shannon Tipton as on-call traumatologists. A traumatologist is a surgeon trained specifically in trauma care, and one must be available 24 hours a day, every day, for the hospital to be rated as Level III.

Other requirements include having an orthopedic surgeon and a fully staffed emergency room available at all times.

Four hospitals in Montana are rated as Level III or better: Deaconess and St. Vincent in Billings, Benefis in Great Falls and St. Patrick in Missoula.

Reporter Tim Trainor may be reached via e-mail at tim.trainor@lee.net.