CJ's Story: A Trauma Patient's Experience

A traumatic event is life changing no matter who you are, or where you come from. OhioHealth Grant Medical Center understands the long and hard journey that trauma patients face in the hospital - and once they go home. The hospital recently held an event in conjunction with National Trauma Survivors Day to honor and celebrate their survivors.

At the event, CJ King, a trauma patient from Grant Medical Center, told his story and what it was like to be a survivor.

“I guess each day is a blessing,” said King. “Because I wouldn't have a life if they didn’t save it.”

Trauma is “never expected, and typically more sudden than anything you can imagine,” said Urmil Pandya, MD, FACS, trauma medical director at Grant. “The Trauma Survivors Day event is a way for us to revisit and understand what our survivors go through and celebrate their story.”

King was victim of a gunshot wound. He was transported to Grant’s Level I Trauma Center where he was met with a team of 20 people who immediately began working to save his life. “It’s kind of chaos, but its controlled chaos,” said Dr. Pandya. “They’re 100 percent focused on you and doing everything that they can to get you through this.”

For King’s mother, Angela Allen, knowing her son was being treated at Grant brought her comfort in a time of fear.

“The trauma unit from Grant has saved my father’s life so I was very confident that my son was in the best hands,” said Allen. “Grant means to me survival and hope. It doesn’t matter what walk of life you come from they care about the patient and making sure that you get the best possible care that you possibly can.”

For trauma patients, the trauma care is only the first stop on their long journey. They then typically have to go through hospitalization and then rehabilitation. “The hospital is not where it ends. Sometimes it’s where it begins for many patients,” said Dr. Pandya.

Being a Level I Trauma Center means that Grant can provide the highest level of surgical care to patients. Grant’s trauma center is the busiest in Ohio, seeing 6,400 patients just last year. With new updates to the emergency department Grant now has three trauma bays to better accommodate patients.

To learn more about trauma services at OhioHealth, click here.