NAN SMITH
Last Tuesday's school-bus wreck in Center Point and threatening weather reminded emergency-care professionals just how valuable the new TraumaNet computer system is to the metropolitan area.
TraumaNet helps paramedics get injured people to the most appropriate trauma center as fast as possible.
A Lifesaver helicopter and Emergency Medical Technician units routed 25 of the school-bus occupants and two pickup-truck occupants to area hospitals using a computer system that is unlike any other in the United States.
The system was used after a four-school-bus collision on Oct. 24, 1997, to save critical time when the possibility of multiple injuries threatened to overload certain emergency rooms while others stood practically empty.
That accident sent 60 schoolchildren and adults to area hospitals and closed Interstate 65 for hours.
Also, a tornado watch last Tuesday again brought TraumaNet's importance into focus. Last April's tornadoes killed 30 people and sent 200 to area hospitals.
The computer system played a role in getting the injured to a facility that was ready to treat them.
TraumaNet was developed by Birmingham-based Forte Inc. for the Birmingham Regional Emergency Medical Services System (BREMSS).
The system gives emergency crews the information they need to decide which trauma center is the best destination for patient transport. The system has been in place for about two years.
"TraumaNet was designed to help with the region's daily trauma and then easily expand when disaster strikes," said Joe Acker, director of BREMSS. "Something used daily is much more likely to work when disasters strike.
"I'm sure a system like this would have helped the emergency personnel in Atlanta and Nashville," said Acker, referring to problems there when April's tornadoes hit.
"When there is a large number of serious injuries in one area, there's a dangerous likelihood that most of the injured will be taken to one or two hospitals, which will quickly be overloaded," Acker said.
"Many people will have lost valuable travel time en route to a hospital already overcrowded with seriously injured patients. TraumaNet helps system coordinators make better and more informed decisions."
"One thing people can't believe whenever we demonstrate TraumaNet is that the system wasn't copied from somewhere else--that Alabama is actually first in developing something this cutting-edge," said Glenn Phillips, CEO of Forte Inc.
TraumaNet will go statewide in Alabama within the next five years. No other system of its kind exists in the United States.
The way that TraumaNet works is that paramedics call the Trauma Communications Center, which is manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The paramedics relay specific details of a patient's age, injuries and vital signs. Within seconds the most appropriate and available emergency room is identified.
TraumaNet averages routing eight patients a day to the proper emergency facility in the Birmingham area. Almost 6,000 seriously injured patients have been assisted since the system was put into place.