Negotiations continue to reopen trauma center

Tuesday, July 9, 2002 | 9:47 a.m.

Trauma patients continued to flow into Southern Nevada hospitals today as negotiations continued to reopen the University Medical Center's Level One Trauma Center.

"Talks will continue today," UMC spokesman Rick Plummer said. "County Commissioner Erin Kenny, Gov. Kenny Guinn and our administrators are talking with our physicians. We are hopeful we will reach a solution soon."

Kenny, who serves as UMC board chairwoman, said today that the talks with physicians "are at a delicate stage" and that she and others are working "to keep the lines of communication open."

"We have no timeline on resolving this issue," she said. "That would be premature."

Since last Wednesday's closure of the trauma center, which for years has treated all of the Las Vegas Valley's trauma patients, emergency service vehicles have taken those with trauma injuries to the closest hospital.

Plummer said the University Medical Center treated just one trauma patient overnight, a 23-year-old man who fell three stories off a building. Since the trauma center closed, UMC has treated 15 trauma patients.

Mountain View Hospital had three trauma patients late Monday afternoon and one this morning to bring its total to six since the trauma center closed. Nearby Summerlin Hospital, however, reported no new trauma patients Monday or overnight.

Valley Hospital, which had seen nine patients in the first five days since the closure of the UMC Trauma Center, had just one Monday and none overnight.

Valley Hospital spokeswoman Gretchen Papez said one bed has been set aside in the emergency room for trauma patients "but we are flexible for more" should there be a need.

In Henderson at the St. Rose Dominican Siena and de Lima facilities, five new trauma patients were admitted Monday and three emergency room patients from Sunday were reclassified to trauma patients under the trauma protocol.

St. Rose spokeswoman Shauna Walch said the six-day total for both campuses is 18 trauma patients.

"You have to remember, we are close to Interstate 15, U.S. 95 and Boulder Highway," Walch said. "The vast majority of them were injured in high-speed rollovers."