What DHR Health’s trauma center achievement means for region
South Texans who suffer major physical trauma — serious injuries such as from falls, motor vehicle collisions, stabbing wounds, and gunshot wounds — no longer have to be transferred away from the Rio Grande Valley and deep South Texas hospitals to San Antonio medical facilities.
As a result of the Level One Trauma Center designation for DHR Health announced on Sept. 8, 2021, by Gov. Greg Abbott, the hospital system, which is anchored in Edinburg, has met the ultimate life-saving emergency medical care standards required by Texas and the American College of Surgeons, which means DHR Health now provides the highest level of surgical care to trauma patients.
DHR Health’s Level One designation is valid for three years.
Hospitals seeking verification must undergo intense scrutiny by reviewers from the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma every three years. To be verified, the hospital must demonstrate its ability to provide a broad spectrum of trauma care resources to address the needs of all injured patients.
Trauma centers are ranked by different levels — Level One (comprehensive service) to Level Five (basic care).
The different levels refer to the kinds of resources available in a trauma center and the number of patients admitted annually.
A Level One Trauma Center provides the highest level of surgical care to trauma patients.
Being treated at a Level One Trauma Center increases a seriously injured patient's chances of survival by an estimated 20 to 25%. It has a full range of specialists and equipment available 24 hours a day and admits a minimum required annual volume of severely injured patients.
Jeffrey Skubic, D.O., Medical Director, DHR Health Level One Trauma Center, provided more information to journalists and the public about what the hard-earned, well-deserved Level One Trauma Center designation means to everyone in the Rio Grande Valley, Corpus Christi and Laredo.
“It’s a huge difference. We have a lot of hospitals here, but the big capstone (most important), the main player for really severe traumas was University Health in San Antonio. We were always dependent on them,” Skubic said. “No matter what happened when something got really bad, the patients (in Rio Grande Valley hospitals) had to be sent all the way there.”
University Health System is the public hospital district for the San Antonio metropolitan region. It is also San Antonio’s only health system recognized by U.S. News & World Report, regarded as one of America's Best Hospitals.
Owned and operated by Bexar County, it is the third largest public health system in Texas. The system is based out of University Hospital, a 716-bed teaching hospital located in the South Texas Medical Center.
Although it too often had to be done, transporting the most seriously-injured by ground ambulance or air ambulance almost 250 miles to University Health was more than a desperate trip for the patient and their loved ones in the Rio Grande Valley.
“It’s ironic that it would be the worst, sickest patients who were sent there, who maybe could or could not tolerate the journey there. And it was always very expensive. Or patients wouldn’t able to get past the U.S. Border Patrol Checkpoint (in Falfurrias),” Skubic said. “Now we have the complete puzzle. No trauma patient, no matter any time day or night, should have to be transferred north any more.”
Anchored in southwest Edinburg on a 130-acre site, with a growing presence in neighboring McAllen, Rio Grande City, Mission, and Brownsville, DHR Health offers some of the most comprehensive medical care on the U.S. southern border, with more than 1,400 nurses and 600+ physicians providing care in 70+ specialties and sub-specialties.
DHR Health is the flagship teaching hospital for the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine and encompasses a general acute hospital with the only dedicated women’s hospital south of San Antonio, a rehabilitation hospital, a behavioral hospital, more than 70 clinics Valley-wide, advanced cancer services, the only transplant program in the Rio Grande Valley – and the only 24/7 Level 1 Trauma Center south of San Antonio.
Doctors Hospital at Renaissance, Ltd (“DHR”) and its general partner, RGV Med, Inc. (“RGV Med”) own and operate a 519 licensed bed general acute care hospital located at 5501 South McColl in Edinburg. The facility is one of the largest physician-owned facilities in the United States that began as an ambulatory surgery center in 1997.
Prior to DHR Health’s designation as a Level One Trauma Center, the Rio Grande Valley was served by three Level II trauma centers — DHR Health in Edinburg, South Texas Health System in McAllen, and Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen.
While Level II Trauma Centers provide adequate care for many traumas, studies have found that patients with certain severe injuries are more likely to survive if they are treated at a Level One.
“When we talk about trauma, we like to talk not only about individual hospitals, but about trauma systems,” Skubic further explained.
A trauma system is an organized, coordinated effort in a defined geographic area that delivers the full range of care to all injured patients and is integrated with the local public health system.
Trauma systems are regionalized, making efficient use of health care resources.
“You may have a smaller facility in the trauma system, but there may be a larger facility in the same system that can take care of that patient with that complex injury or multiple injuries,” he said.
“Previously, all of South Texas never had a complete trauma system. We always lacked the highest level of trauma care. We’ve had Level Two Trauma Centers down here, as well as Level Three and Level Four, which are lower levels. But we’ve never had a complete system. University Health in San Antonio was the Level 1 for all of this region. We know San Antonio is about 250 miles away,” Skubic said. “We were never were able to have a complete system,” he emphasized.
“What this means is for the first time, South Texas has its own trauma system independent of University Health. For the first time, we have our own trauma system, which means every single injury that occurs within this system can be cared for close to home,” he said.
Patients with severe burn injuries still must be transported to San Antonio, which has advanced Level One Trauma Centers for those victims, Skubic added.
In his remarks during his news conference at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance, the Texas governor stressed the significance of DHR Health’s Level One Trauma Center recognition.
“It is a monumental day for this hospital but, equally important, it is a monumental day for the health and safety of everybody in the entire Rio Grande Valley region,” Abbott said at the Sept. 8, 2021, conference held at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance. “Because of this new Level One Trauma Center designation, lives are going to be saved and better outcomes are going to be achieved because a Level One Trauma Center now exists in the Rio Grande Valley.”
Abbott delivered those and other remarks during his visit to the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance, which was attended by leaders, physicians, nurses, emergency medical services personnel, and other medical professionals associated with DHR Health, along with news media from the Rio Grande Valley, northern Mexico, and Texas.
“Today is a day of remarkable achievement for the Rio Grande Valley, for DHR. It is an issue that has been focused on for years now,” the governor noted. “It always so rewarding when you have a goal that you want to achieve, you put the effort into it to achieve that goal and then you ultimately achieve it. And so, as talked earlier today in a meeting before we came in here, this is a substantial milestone for DHR and for the Rio Grande Valley.
“However, it really is not an end unto itself. It really is a stepping stone toward an even broader and better pathway forward,” Abbott said.
In an interview conducted on Friday, September 10, 2021 by Marcy Martínez, Director of Public Media Relations & Corporate Communications, DHR Health, Skubic shared other key background about the work behind-the-scenes that led to the Level One Trauma Center designation for DHR Health.
David A. Díaz's email is Legislativemedia@aol.com