State Designates Rehabilitation Centers for Victims of Traumatic Injury.

OLYMPIA, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 5, 1998--The state Department of Health is making sure that victims of car crashes, gun shot wounds, and other traumatic injuries are given excellent care after they are treated in hospitals.

The agency today designated 18 trauma rehabilitation services and three pediatric trauma rehabilitation services statewide, a move that will strengthen the state's nationally recognized trauma care system.

Trauma rehabilitation services are organizations that specialize in rehabilitating patients with traumatic injuries.

"The goal of the trauma system is to reduce death and disability to patients who experience serious injuries," said Janet Griffith, director of the EMS and Trauma program at the state Department of Health. "Rehab services deal with the disability part. They rehabilitate trauma patients and enhance their independence, self-sufficiency, and productivity. Trauma rehabilitation designation assures that the right providers and services are available to the most critically injured patients."

Trauma is a medical term for physical injury. Severe trauma injuries are most often caused by motor vehicle crashes, falls, drowning, firearms, or burns. The results of these accidents are often brain or spinal cord injuries, or amputations.

Applicants were judged on several criteria, including: accreditation by a national rehabilitation commission; 24-hour-a-day availability of rehabilitation physicians; a certified rehab nurse available for review or care plans; an internal quality assurance program; participation in the state's trauma registry, which tracks trauma patient care from prehospital, to hospital to rehabilitation care; and participation in a regional quality program.

"When we put the trauma system in place, we focused first on prehospital and hospital trauma services," Griffith said. "Once those systems were in place and running smoothly, we started looking closely at the centers that provide follow-up care for trauma patients. So far, we are the only state in the country that is designating trauma rehab services."

The facilities were designated for one of three levels of rehabilitative trauma care, with level one and two providing inpatient rehab services and level three providing outpatient services. Three facilities were designated to provide level I services, 10 were designated to provide level II services and four were designated to provide level III services. As well, three facilities were designated to provide level I pediatric trauma rehab services.

Trauma is the leading cause of death for all people up to age 44, and the leading cause of disability for all people under age 65. More than 2,600 people die from injuries in Washington each year and another 39,000 are hospitalized.

Washington State Department of Health Trauma Rehabilitation Service Designation

Nov. 5, 1998

Statewide

I-R Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington Medical Center 325 Ninth Avenue Seattle, WA 98104-2499 [phone]

I-R / I-RP Good Samaritan Community Healthcare The Heath Rehabilitation Center Post Office Box 1247 407 - 14th Avenue SE Puyallup, WA 98371 [phone]

I-R / I-RP St Luke's Rehabilitation Institute 711 South Cowley St. Spokane, WA 99202 [phone]

I-RP Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center PO Box 5371, CH-71 4800 Sandpoint Way NE. Seattle, WA 98105-0371 [phone]

Central

II-R Northwest Hospital Rehabilitation Unit 1550 N 115th Street Seattle, WA 98133-9733 [phone]

II-R Providence Seattle Medical Center Comprehensive Acute Rehabilitation Unit PO Box 3400 8500 17th Avenue (98122) Seattle, WA 98124-1008 [phone]

III-R Valley Medical Center Rehabilitation Services 400 S 43rd Street Renton, WA 98055 [phone]

North

II-R Providence General Medical Center Providence Rehabilitation Services PO Box 1147 1321 Colby Everett, WA 98206-1147 [phone]

North Central

II-R Cascade Medical Center, Wenatchee 820 North Chelan Avenue Wenatchee, WA 98801 [phone]

Northwest

III-R Green Mountain Rehabilitation Medicine 900 Pacific Avenue Bremerton, WA 98337 [phone]

South Central

II-R Lourdes Medical Center Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit PO Box 2568 520 N 4th Avenue Pasco, WA 99302-2568 [phone]

II-R Providence Yakima Medical Center Rehabilitation Unit 110 S Ninth Avenue Yakima, WA 98902-3397 [phone]

II-R St Mary Medical Center Turning Point Rehabilitation Post Office Box 1477 401 West Poplar Street Walla Walla, WA 99362-0312 [phone]

Southwest

II-R Southwest Washington Medical Center PO Box 1600 600 NE 92 Ave (98664) Vancouver, WA 98668-1600 [phone]

III-R St John Medical Center PO Box 3002 1614 E Kessler Blvd Longview, WA 98632-0302 [phone]

West

II-R Providence St Peter Hospital Medical Rehabilitation Program 413 Lilly Road NE Olympia, WA 98506-5166 [phone]

II-R St Joseph Medical Center Inpatient Rehabilitation PO Box 2197 1717 South J Street (98405) Tacoma, WA 98401-2197 [phone]

III-R Providence Centralia Hospital 914 S Scheuber Road Centralia, WA 98531 [phone]

R = Rehabilitation P = Pediatric