NAN SMITH

The TraumaNet System, which has been working in Birmingham for two years, will be going statewide by the end of the year.

Forte' Inc., the Birmingham-based computer consulting firm that created the software for TraumaNet, signed a contract with Birmingham Regional Emergency Medical Services System on Feb. 23 to redesign the software to accept new hospitals across the state.

"There is no way to predict which hospitals will sign up for TraumaNet," said Glenn S. Phillips of Forte. "Participation is voluntary, but with the success of the system in the Birmingham area, I believe there will be a snowball effect."

The success of TraumaNet in the metropolitan area has been well-established, according to Jerome Munnerlyn, a communicator at the TraumaNet Communications Center who was working the night of the April 8 tornado last year.

"When communications were restored after the tornado hit, we were able to route the most seriously injured patients to the Level 1 trauma centers and space the less seriously injured out at hospitals that could handle them," he said. "That way, no hospitals were overwhelmed and the patients got the best possible care. I believe lives were saved."

Munnerlyn also said that the system has proved valuable when there ere smaller mass-injury situations such as bus wrecks or multicar wrecks on the highway.

"We also come into play when less severe incidents happen," he said.

"Paramedics know their business and know which hospitals specialize in what medical emergencies, vut they don't always know if a hospital already has its trauma team working on other patients. We know and can re-route them in such cases, avoiding unnecessary delays."

Also, Forte has designed new emergency medical software called StrokeNet, which will help stroke patients get to the best available trauma center in the shortest period of time.

StrokeNet will be in use by nine of the 10 hospitals currently using TraumaNet within three or four months. Children's Hospital will not be using StrokeNet because of its emphasis on children, who are not generally at risk for stroke.

"Getting stroke patients to the appropriate trauma center quickly is more important than ever," Phillips said. "Researchers have found drugs like prourokinase, which if delivered to stroke patients quickly after a stroke, can decrease or even eliminate permanent brain damage."

Forte has created a subsidiary, LifeTrac Technologies, to market TraumaNet and StrokeNet.

"We are primarily a computer consulting business and want to continue in that direction," Phillips said. "Too many consulting firms get a product and become that product."

The company has also formed a strategic alliance partnership with Ram software of Pittsburgh.

Forte will provide new technology consulting services to help Ram enhance its product line of software for the ambulance industry. Ram will serve as a marketing representative for Forte.