About the Program
Mary Washington Hospital of Fredericksburg, VA is a community hospital serving the Fredericksburg VA area for over 100 years. Mary Washington Hospital is part of MediCorp system.The community has grown significantly over recent years, now approaching 400,000 people in the primary and secondary service areas of the hospital.
While the Mary Washington Hospital Emergency Department is one of the busiest in the state of Virginia, seeing over 100,000 annual visits, severely injured trauma patients in our area (about 700 per year) must be sent to one of 3 trauma centers, each over 50 miles away. In 2004, the Virginia State legislature passed a joint resolution called the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee # 183, mandating that a trauma center be developed in the Fredericksburg area. MediCorp has responded to that mandate and has made a commitment to the development of a trauma center at Mary Washington Hospital.
It is estimated that approximately 1,000 trauma patients per year will be served by Mary Washington Hospital once its trauma center is operational and designated by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Partnerships in pre-hospital trauma care with Rappahannock EMS (REMS) [link to REMS], aero-medical companies, and with state and local law enforcement and public fire and safety agencies will help promulgate an infrastructure for the trauma center. Within Mary Washington Hospital efforts are underway to develop the process of trauma care. Once fully implemented, the Mary Washington Hospital will be a full-time, 24/7 operation for all injured patients. The robust Emergency Department, Operating Room, and Intensive Care Unit capabilities along with the multitude of other services and providers will make this capability a reality.
The initial trauma team has already been assembled and names and points of contact appear above. Additional healthcare providers are being recruited.
Dr. Roberts' outpatient clinic (Rappahannock Trauma and Acute Care Surgeons) [link to a clinic page for me] is now open and will see all trauma patients (those initially managed at Mary Washington Hospital as well as patients referred from other providers who need outpatient trauma care), Emergency General Surgery patients as well as elective General Surgery referrals. Recruitment of additional Acute Care surgeons is ongoing but those who become part of the Trauma Team will provide trauma care, surgical critical care, emergency general surgery care and finally elective general surgery care.
Progress of the Trauma program at Mary Washington Hospital can be seen on this website as it is updated. It is projected that the trauma center will be activated in the Spring of 2008.
|
