Hospital elevated to Level III Trauma Centre by province
PRHC program aims to provide community members with the skills and tools needed to stop uncontrolled bleeding in emergency situations
As a Level III Trauma Centre, the Peterborough Regional Health Centre is now in a better position to bring about improvements to trauma care not just locally but on a wider scale as well.
The PRHC has been granted the enhanced status by the Ontario Ministry of Health, the hospital announced Tuesday.
“This means that our team will help to drive improvements in trauma patient care — not only locally at our regional hospital but at the provincial level as well — with a focus on creating a best-in-class trauma system that reduces death and disability related to injury,” Troy Tebbenham, medical director of the Trauma Program at the PRHC, stated in a release provided by the hospital.
Since being identified provincially as a Level III Trauma Centre, the PRHC’s new trauma team has been working closely with programs and departments across the hospital to develop a trauma site model that encompasses team and policy development, quality assurance, community outreach and education, data collection, and a continuing medical education component — in addition to offering direct trauma care to patients.
A significant element of the establishment of the PRHC’s trauma program involves community education.
The trauma team has been providing seasonal injury prevention and safety tips across the hospital’s social media channels and has launched a community education program called Stop the Bleed — an international program that provides community members with the skills and basic tools they need to stop uncontrolled bleeding in an emergency situation.
In the year ahead, the PRHC’s trauma team will work closely with Peterborough CountyCity Paramedics, the Peterborough Police Service and Peterborough Fire Services to continue to educate and implement programs within local school boards, businesses, and the general community to decrease the incidence of trauma events.