UMC Health System - Physician Notes

SAVES LIVES TRAUMA TEAMWORK THE L AS T THING Dr. Goebel remembers about Jan. 16 is placing an order for cattle instruments at 7 a.m. "By 7:30 a.m., I was driving to a job in Brownwood, Texas, when a pickup truck crossed the center line and struck my truck head on," Dr. Goebel said. "I must have been driving 70 or 75 miles an hour, and the other truck was probably traveling at a similar speed. e brake pedal went through my left leg, causing a bad wound." e accident left Dr. Goebel with multiple lower-extremity and spinal fractures, a blood clot in the cervical spine, abdominal bleeding, crushed organs (spleen, liver and a portion of the colon), an aortic dissection and a traumatic brain injury (TBI). An air ambulance took Dr. Goebel to a Level 3 Trauma Center in Abilene, where he received nearly 20 pints of blood. Physicians removed his gallbladder and the damaged part of his colon and stanched the bleeding in his abdomen, but his injuries demanded a higher level of care. At 4 a.m. on Jan. 17, Dr. Goebel was airlifted to the region's only Level 1 Trauma Center, UMC Health System. On Jan. 15, Ika Goebel shared exciting news with her husband, Justin: She was pregnant with their second child. The next day, Justin was involved in a terrible auto accident. Ika, who had planned to give birth in Abilene, began spending all her time in Lubbock while Justin recovered from his injuries at UMC Health System — and she needed to see a obstetrician to be sure her pregnancy was progressing normally. She entered the care of Ammar Dhari, M.D., OB-GYN at UMC. SOLVING COMPLEXITY WITH COLLABORATION As the anchor of a regional trauma network, UMC sees 3,500–3,800 critically injured patients annually. Its partnership with the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center gives trauma patients access to a wide range of specialists, including fellowship-trained orthopaedic traumatologists and trauma surgeons. A group that included those clinicians, as well as a cardiovascular surgeon and a neurosurgeon, mobilized while Dr. Goebel was en route from Abilene and went to work as soon as he arrived. Dr. Goebel and his team of clinicians faced daunting challenges. His overall Injury Severity Score was 43, nearly 30 points higher than the traditional minimum threshold for major trauma. Swift action was crucial. e most pressing injury to address was the aortic dissection. Once the cardiovascular surgeon performed an endovascular repair using a stent graft, Cyrus Caroom, M.D., director of orthopaedic trauma at UMC, turned his WHEN A VEHICULAR ACCIDENT LEFT COLORADO CIT Y, TEXAS, VETERINARIAN JUSTIN GOEBEL, D.V.M., WITH CATASTROPHIC INJURIES, MULTIPLE CENTERS AND SPECIALISTS COLLABORATED TO SAVE HIS LIFE. CHANGE OF (BIRTH) PLAN SAVES LIVES PHOTOGRAPHY VENUE: COPPER PRESS, COLORADO CITY, TX 4 PHYSICIAN NOTES /// FALL 2017

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