Petersburg hospital sets out to become a state trauma center, a decade-old goal

Petersburg Medical Center's board voted unanimously Oct. 29 to provide "the resources necessary" to earn and keep a Level 4 trauma designation from the state, a goal the hospital's CEO says has been on its list, off and on, for more than a decade.

A Level 4 trauma center is a small rural hospital that stabilizes seriously injured patients before sending them on to bigger trauma centers, and may treat less serious injuries itself, according to the Alaska Department of Health. The state lists 13 hospitals with the designation, including those in Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka and Wrangell. Petersburg's isn't among them.

The designation "has been on the roadmap of PMC for over a decade (off/on) and is finally able to come to reality," CEO Phil Hofstetter wrote in a report to the board.

The board's resolution passed without discussion and names no dollar figure. It says accidents are the leading cause of death for Alaskans ages 5 to 54, and that treatment at a hospital in a standardized trauma system "can significantly increase the chance of survival for victims of serious trauma."

Petersburg is an island town, and its hospital sends out about one medevac a week, 50 to 55 a year, a hospital official told the board.

Hospital staff expect the process to take about a year. Dr. Elisha Brownson and Wendy Allen of the state's trauma program visited Oct. 16 to compare the hospital against the state's requirements. The visit turned up criteria the hospital doesn't yet meet or only partly meets, but all the major ones were judged achievable within 12 months, according to the hospital's quality report. A staff member told the board the reviewers "were really impressed with where we are today."

The hospital has to log a full year of reviewing trauma cases and improving its procedures before a state team can review it for certification, which staff expect around this time next year. A trauma committee started meeting in October. Three of the hospital's doctors will take Advanced Trauma Life Support training in the coming months, and the work also takes some new equipment and policies.

The emergency room has been busier than last year. It logged 115 visits in July, 125 in August and 100 in September, 25% more than the same three months a year earlier, according to the hospital's financial report. Hofstetter told the board the volume strains doctors and nursing staff. The hospital is still recruiting a physician, which he called "a huge challenge," and temporary doctors have been filling in. In July, it was renting about 21 apartments around town to house traveling staff.

The resolution doesn't say how the hospital will pay for the trauma work. Hofstetter's report mentions adding it to the hospital's projects under the state's Rural Health Transformation Program.