Columbus, OH,
24
May
2017
|
20:46 PM
Europe/Amsterdam

ABC6 and NBC4: Grant Trauma Expansion

As the escalation of violent crimes continues in Columbus, OhioHealth Grant Medical Center has expanded to add a third trauma bay to keep up with the community’s trauma injuries.

The number of homicides and people being shot in Columbus is on the rise. “People are getting better at hurting one another in the city. It’s bad,” Shay O'Mara, MD, medical director of trauma services at Grant Medical Center, told NBC4 reporter Katie Ferrell.

With Grant being the busiest trauma center in the state, the trauma team saw more than 6,000 trauma patients last year, nine percent of which were penetrating traumas - including stabbings and gunshots the past 10 years, Grant has seen its number of trauma patients double, and that number will only get larger for this year at this rate.

However, Grant’s newly renovated and expanded trauma bays can now accommodate more patients and has technology that will help with better outcomes for trauma patients. According to trauma surgeon Michelle Kincaid, MD, Grant sees gunshot injuries in the pelvis and other areas of the body, but also the most life-threatening wounds like shots in the chest or the abdomen.

Kincaid told ABC6 reporter Bryant Maddrick that the energy from the bullet “can destroy anything from skin, to muscle, to bones, to organs, to intestines.” Grant has tools like a special catheter that goes into the aorta, which is the largest blood vessel in the body, that helps stop the bleeding internally so the patient can make it to the operating room.

Summer is the trauma center’s busiest time during the year, but the premature warm weather might be the reason for an early start to the busy season. Nonetheless, Grant is prepared and ready for the influx in trauma patients.