In New Jersey, Level I centers must treat at least 600 patients a year, while Level II facilities must see at least 350 annually. Porter, a trauma surgeon who is Medical Director of the Cooper University Hospital Level I Trauma Center in Camden. “If you’re a patient in a car crash, you get the same care at a Level I or a Level II,” noted Dr. Staff at these sites work closely with police, firefighters, emergency medical technicians - including medical airlift teams - and colleagues at other emergency rooms to ensure that victims with serious burns, gunshot wounds, contusions from accidents or violence, and other traumatic injuries are routed to the closest trauma center for treatment.
In New Jersey, there are three Level I facilities and seven Level II trauma centers, distributed throughout the state based on population and geography. Level I trauma centers are larger, prepared to handle greater volume, and often associated with research institutions or university-affiliated hospitals Level II centers provide the same level of care, but treat fewer patients each year. They are accredited by the American College of Surgeons and licensed and regulated by the state. Trauma centers are specially equipped and organized - with critical staff on hand at all times and multiple backup teams at the ready - to treat severely injured patients, whether they’ve been injured a car crash, fireworks accident, or mass shooting like in Orlando.
(Fifty more, counting the gunman who was killed by police, were shot dead inside Pulse nightclub before dawn on June 12.) Ambulance paramedicFor many of the 53 victims injured in the Orlando massacre earlier this month, their visit to the closest trauma center - at Orlando Regional Medical Center, just three blocks away - was most likely critical to their survival.