From Response to Prevention: Harris Health Redefines Trauma Care
When you walk out your door, anything can happen. Expecting the unexpected is what the trauma experts at Harris Health System do. By providing high-quality trauma care at both Harris Health Ben Taub Hospital and Harris Health Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital while offering trauma prevention programs in the community, Harris Health is saving lives every day.
“There are two main types of trauma we’re Stephen Mora-s always prepared to treat,” says Stephen Mora, director, Trauma Services, Ben Taub Hospital. “There is blunt accidental trauma like car accidents or falls, and penetrating violent trauma like gunshots or stabbings. Preparing and providing effective trauma care is a team effort that Harris Health does well.”
Trauma care at Ben Taub, a Level 1 Trauma Center, is carefully orchestrated. From the moment emergency medical services (EMS) arrive at the scene to the moment the patient is discharged from the hospital, Harris Health’s trauma services are optimized for the best patient outcomes.
“Say we have a 24-year-old that’s been in a motor vehicle crash,” Mora says. “The trauma team is in constant communication with staff using a mix of alerts, cell phones, and yes, pagers, to ensure all 15-20 members of the trauma team receiving the alert are effectively coordinated, even before the patient reaches the hospital.”
For all the trauma care that happens in a hospital, it’s only half the story. In today’s world, trauma care starts in the community.
“Data drives trauma education and policy,” says Future Johns, director, Trauma Services, LBJ Hospital, which sees close to 8,000 trauma injuries a year. “We identify trends, then create programs and advocate for legislation to address them.”
To improve patient outcomes, Johns explains, Harris Health tracks the leading causes of trauma ensuring they’re ready to care for any type of trauma victim that comes through their doors. The data shows the top three trauma types in Harris County are:
1. Vehicular accidents
2. Falls
3. Penetration wounds (gunshots, stabbings)
For each of these trauma types, Harris Health has developed corresponding interventions in the community. To address vehicular accidents, Harris Health deploys Shattered Dreams, a nationally-recognized program designed to raise awareness and show the consequences of underage drinking and driving. Harris Health is one of the only healthcare systems that offers Shattered Dreams—a program more relevant today than ever.
“November 7, 2000, was the last day without a motor vehicle-related death on Texas roadways,” says Alyssa Badillo, outreach coordinator, Trauma Injury Prevention, Ben Taub Hospital, who organizes Shattered Dreams and other outreach programs in the community. She notes that Houston leads the country in drunk driving accidents. “We get so frustrated seeing trauma injuries that could have been prevented. That’s why we’re educating the community about the importance of safe driving.”
Shattered Dreams recreates a drunk driving accident scene in excruciating detail for high schoolers to observe. Helicopters, ambulances, coroners, all emergency workers, and law enforcement show up to make the event feel as realistic as possible. The idea is not to use scare tactics, Badillo insists, but to demonstrate the consequences of impaired driving in a way high schoolers will remember to hopefully deter poor behavior and prevent accidents in the future.
“Shattered Dreams shows the reality we see in hospitals every day,” she adds.
Badillo also leads Stop the Bleed, a free instructional class that teaches anyone how to treat traumas with penetrating wounds from gunshots or knife strikes. Stop the Bleed was developed in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in 2012 where many died who could’ve been saved with on-site wound care from good Samaritans.
Attendees of Stop the Bleed learn how to pack wounds, apply pressure to a wound and how to effectively communicate with emergency personnel. They also learn the ABCs of wound treatment:
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Alert authorities by dialing 9-1-1 Identify the bleeding Compress the bleeding
The goal of the course is to teach techniques needed to keep someone who’s suffered a serious wound alive until they’re able to get to the hospital.
“Stop the Bleed has been proven to save lives,” Badillo says. “We encourage everyone—schools, offices, community centers—to take advantage of this free resource.”
Stop the Bleed isn’t the only program Harris Health employs to help prevent gunshot trauma. The system participates in free gun lock distributions held at locations like Ben Taub Hospital. Traditionally, gun lock giveaways are associated with law enforcement agencies. However, having giveaways at hospitals and systems like Harris Health reflects a changing view of how the community can respond to gun violence.
“Gun injuries are a public health issue, not a political issue,” Badillo stresses, noting Harris Health has distributed more than 2,000 gun locks. Another program that tackles gun violence is the Harris County supported initiative, Hospital Violence Interruption Program (HVIP). The program uses data to identify gunshot victims with a high likelihood of recidivism, then sends trauma experts to the bedside to offer victims crucial preventive resources like stable housing and healthy food.
Not all trauma injuries are connected to violence, whether accidental or intentional. The most common form of trauma injury is falling. Harris Health has a program for this, too.
“It’s not just older adults that fall,” says Johns, who oversees trauma education at LBJ Hospital. “Pregnant women, construction workers or just the average Joe missing a step on the way into the office—falls are the number one mechanism of injury.”
Falls may seem unpredictable, but in fact, Harris Health has a program to prevent them called Tai Chi Fall Prevention—classes focused on mobility and agility using the ancient Chinese martial art. Led by a certified instructors and LBJ Hospital’s Trauma Services
Department, attendees learn Tai Chi to improve balance, increase coordination of movement control and move slowly with precise steps when walking. The class even teaches how to fall safely.
“Fall prevention is imperative as even small traumas can lead to bigger issues, especially in older adults,” Johns says. “We may not be able to eradicate falls, but we can mitigate their effects.”
All Harris Health trauma care and prevention programs coalesce around an important event, the Circle of Survival Conference. This year marks the 21st annual conference that educates frontline medical professionals on the latest trauma strategies, treatments and new research to better care for patients. Hosted by Harris Health, the conference is a chance for nurses, doctors, first responders and non-physician healthcare professionals to interact with experts in the field. This all-day event is another example of how Harris Health continues to improve care and patient outcomes.
May is Trauma Awareness Month. In addition to Harris Health’s robust lineup of prevention programs and educational opportunities, survivors of trauma will be honored at an event this month. Here survivors will get the opportunity to interact with caregivers who treated them during their hospitalization and rehabilitation. The heartwarming recognition is a great way to honor trauma survivors for their perseverance and determination to overcome their trauma challenges.
“Every life is worth saving, if our programs save even one life, then we’ve done our job.” - Stephen Mora