Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, TX –
“Trauma team to the
trauma room” often rings through the halls of the San Antonio Military Medical
Center at Fort Sam Houston throughout the day and the night. SAMMC is one of
two Level I Trauma Centers in the city of San Antonio, which leads to many
unique traumas coming through the emergency department each day.
“SAMMC’s emergency department is one of the largest and
busiest emergency departments in south Texas,” said Army Col. Michael Hilliard,
Department of Emergency Medicine chief.
“Our annual volume approaches 85,000 patients a year, of
which about 4,000 of those patients are trauma patients,” Hilliard said. “Our
trauma volume has continued to grow over the past three years from 3,000 to now
more than 4,000 patients per year.”
SAMMC works closely with the Southwest Texas Regional
Advisory Council and University Hospital, San Antonio’s other Level I Trauma
Center, to provide trauma care to citizens of the city and other rural areas of
southwest Texas.
STRAC’s mission is to develop, implement and maintain the
regional trauma and emergency health care system for 22 counties encompassing
more than 26,000 square miles in southwest Texas to the Mexico border.
Common trauma cases range from shootings, stabbings, car
wrecks and severe burns.
“We have been involved with trauma in the community of San
Antonio officially since 1975 and probably even before then,” said Army Col.
Kurt Edwards, SAMMC trauma and surgical critical care chief.
“As we provide excellent care to the people of southwest
Texas, we understand that the experiences we have in deployed or combat
situations allow us to provide even better care here,” he said. “It allows us
to also provide better care to military members who are injured.”
“The types of cases we see here absolutely help prepare us
for downrange,” Hilliard added in agreement. “It may not be the same as an
improvised explosive device, but gunshots, stabbings, multiple car accidents
and those types of injuries and the way the body responds to them is very
similar to how it is when we are downrange and in war.
“Our staff is completely devoted to the trauma mission,”
Hilliard said. “This is where we train our physicians, nurses and medics to be
prepared to take care of all our service members downrange in conflict who are
protecting our country.”
Some trauma cases are more unusual; in 2012, Sherri Ellis
was brought to SAMMC with severe injuries caused from being trampled by the cow
on her rural farm.
The cow had recently given birth and was protecting her
calf. When Ellis was trying to feed the cattle, the cow knocked her down and
trampled her.
She was flown to SAMMC for treatment. Her injures were
severe and her recovery long, but she and her husband were grateful for the
care she received at SAMMC.
“The ER nurses were phenomenal,” said her husband, Larry
Ellis. “They were as big a part of saving her life as the doctors.”
“I owe my life to this hospital. If it weren’t for them I
wouldn’t be here,” Ellis said. “I’m eternally grateful to the doctors and the
staff at SAMMC.”
Army Lt. Col. Debra Chappel, Department of Emergency Nursing
chief nurse, said she loves working at SAMMC and contributing to the trauma
mission for San Antonio.
“The magnitude of nurses that I have working here with me is
outstanding,” Chappel said.
City and state leaders have praised SAMMC’s contributions to
the health and well-being of the people of southwest Texas.
“I’m so incredibly proud of this facility, in typical Texas
fashion, I think it’s the very best in the entire nation and in the entire
world,” said Texas Governor Greg Abbott. “The role that it plays for both our
military as well as our civilians is absolutely essential.”