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Canton-Potsdam Hospital closer to achieving full level 3 trauma center designation

Posted 8/10/18

POTSDAM -- Canton-Potsdam Hospital has received notification from the American College of Surgeons’ Committee on Trauma of its verification as a Level III trauma center for three years. …

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Canton-Potsdam Hospital closer to achieving full level 3 trauma center designation

Posted

POTSDAM -- Canton-Potsdam Hospital has received notification from the American College of Surgeons’ Committee on Trauma of its verification as a Level III trauma center for three years.

Verification is the second stage in a lengthy process to achieve full designation. Since being awarded provisional status in 2015, the hospital has followed protocols established by the state and the American College of Surgeons’ Committee on Trauma to provide life-sustaining care to critically ill or injured patients. Canton-Potsdam Hospital is the only Level III trauma center north of the NYS Thruway in the Central New York region (Source: NYSDOH on-line directory).

Two years ago, Dr. Mark Healey, a critical care, trauma, and general surgeon, joined CPH as the trauma team’s medical director. He has served as the Vermont state chair of the American College of Surgeons' Committee on Trauma, as chair of the Education Committee of the national Trauma Association of Canada, and as the Vermont state chair of the American College of Surgeons' Committee on Trauma for Performance Improvement and Disaster Planning.

“CPH is fully equipped to provide rapid trauma care to adults,” Healey said in a prepared statement from St. Lawrence Health System, which oversees CPH. “Our team is trained in trauma response for scenarios including severe car and motorcycle accidents, gunshot wounds, stab wounds, traumatic brain injury, burns, and falls. We have 24-hour coverage by emergency medicine physicians, on-call surgeons and anesthetists, and provide continuing education for the trauma team.”

Healey worked with Emergency Department Director Dr. Jason Lorenc; James Barr, trauma program manager; Tammy Sykes, director of the Emergency Department; and a host of others to meet the ACS trauma standards.

The hospital recruited additional specialists in neurology, pain management, infectious disease, pulmonology, and orthopedic surgery to support non-emergency and trauma-related patient needs.