Level 1 Trauma Center Vital Here

Memorial Health University Medical Center operates one of only four "level one" trauma centers in Georgia.
 
Without state funding, it's future is still in question as the hospital struggles to deal with a budget shortfall and rising costs.
 
On the night of the Imperial Sugar Refinery explosion, the hospital treated 29 injured workers.
 
3 On Your Side's Randi Hempel talks to the director of the emergency room there about how vital the facility is to our community.
 
The explosion at the Dixie Crystals Refinery is a disaster doctors, nurses and hospital staff at Memorial Health, a level one trauma center, are prepared for.
 
Dr. Jay Goldstein is one of the first to get the call. By the time he arrived minutes later, 100 gurneys were out here in the ambulance bay.
    
“Being prepared from the level one trauma center I think is pretty important. Not having one, I think, you would expect to have pretty much not as great an outcome for the patient for survivability and just for um maybe their potential for having worse outcomes is pretty increased exponentially.” Explains Dr. Jay Goldstein, medical director of the emergency department at Memorial Health.
 
Dr. Goldstein says the response time was incredible the night of the explosion. More than 10 emergency physicians along with all of the trauma surgeons and multiple plastics and orthopedic surgeons were here within minutes. Within an hour and 45 minutes, all of the patients were seen, taken care of and upstairs.
 
He says other level hospitals either wouldn't have the surgical specialists in house or access to the type of physicians that would be needed in the crucial golden hour of care.
 
“Having a level one trauma center in this community is a vital necessity and I know that that's a major aspect from the legislation at this point. I think it's of utmost importance to bring it to the attention of the community.” Explains Goldstein.
 
Especially when tragedy hits home.
 
“We have employees who are alive today at the burn center in Augusta because the doctors and nurses at this hospital went way beyond their responsibilities and performed at just such an excellent level.” says John Sheptor, CEO of Imperial Sugar.
 
For more information on Memorial Health,click here.
 
For more on all of our coverage of the Dixie Crystals Refinery explosion, click here for the special page of wsav.com.