By By Kelly Quackenbush/The Meridian Star
March 6, 2001
Jeff Anderson Regional Medical Center officials announced plans Monday to seek designation as a state-sanctioned trauma care facility.
The application will be filed through the Mississippi State Department of Health and would make JARMC part of a statewide network of trauma centers, which works to stabilize and care for patients with critical injuries.
The Mississippi State Department of Health's Division of Emergency Medical Services developed the trauma care system and will determine which level of treatment may be offered at JARMC. There are four levels of care, ranging from I  for the most critically injured patients to IV.
According to Jim Craig, director of the health department's division of emergency medical services, Level I centers require the most resources and are generally university hospitals. Level II centers provide 24-hour emergency trauma service. Level III does not provide 24-hour service. A level IV center focuses on stabilizing trauma patients and transferring them to a higher-level trauma unit.
JARMC added three surgery-ready trauma rooms in an emergency room equipped with X-ray service, computers to gain access to lab results and telephones for emergency room doctors to consult with specialists. The rooms were added eight months ago in anticipation of the trauma unit application.
Interested in becoming a certified unit for over a year, the trauma unit of JARMC has worked for four months on exploring how the system would improve trauma care for the Meridian community.
State surveyors will inspect Jeff Anderson Regional Medical Center within a year to evaluate the level of trauma care the hospital is capable of performing. The inspection includes an assessment of the following programs: administration, anesthesiology, clinical laboratory, critical care units, emergency department, patient transfer agreements with other hospitals, pre-hospital services, quality improvement programs, radiology and surgery services.
Kelly Quackenbush is a staff writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail her at kquackenbush@themeridianstar.com.