Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/511155
T HE INJURED COME in all sizes, young and old. They include parents and children driving to church on a recent Sunday morning, a mother taking her daughters to dance lessons, and a father holding the hand of his children as they crossed a busy intersection. All were brought to the one place in South Texas with the expertise and facili- ties to treat people of all ages suffering from life-threatening injuries — University Hospital's Level 1 trauma center. University Hospital has long cared for the most seriously injured children and adults throughout a vast, 22-county region of South Texas. More than 1,000 pediatric trauma patients were brought there last year, along with more than 3,000 injured adults. Those numbers have risen by more than 20 percent over the past five years, a testament to the hospital's role in serv- ing one of the fastest-growing regions in the country. "We provide trauma care for patients of all ages," says John Myers, MD, Chief of Trauma and Emergency Surgery at University Health System and Professor of Surgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. "Families involved in motor vehicle crashes do not have to be split up to receive the highest level of care." The mission of trauma care received a boost in April 2014 when the new, million- square-foot Sky Tower opened its doors, doubling the size of University Hospital and providing a larger, technologically advanced new home for the Level 1 trauma center. The expanded, dedicated Trauma Resuscitation Unit, with separate bays for children, can manage up to 30 patients at one time. It's located next to its own ambulance entrance within the hospital's larger new Emergency Department. With added surgical capacity, the hos- pital has a dedicated operating room for trauma and emergency patients, allowing immediate access at any hour. Like the rest of the new surgical suites, it includes multiple, high-resolution video displays and touch-screen controls so that the surgical team can view live laparoscopic images, X-rays, lab results and patient records all at the same time. There's also a state-of-the-art hybrid operating room that can be used to perform multimodal surgical care of the injured patient. The new, 30-bed trauma Caring for the Most Seriously Injured Patients in South Texas University Hospital: University Hospital's new million- square-foot Sky Tower provides a larger, technologically advanced new home for the Level 1 trauma center. COV ER FE AT UR E 6 | San Antonio MD NEWS ■ M D N E W S . CO M