Sunrise Hospital pursues trauma center

Jennifer Knight

Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2003 | 11:02 a.m.

Executives at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center are considering opening the valley's second trauma center just three miles away from the existing one.

For five years, the University Medical Center on West Charleston Boulevard has been the only hospital equipped to handle critically injured patients, but Sunrise Hospital officials believe that's not enough to serve Las Vegas' expanding population.

"We are seriously pursuing it," said Allan Stipe, chief executive officer of Sunrise Hospital. "We think we're logically the next hospital to do this. We have the size and the service support to do this."

The move comes after last year's medical malpractice crisis. Te rising cost of medical malpractice insurance made some doctors decide to quit practicing emergency medicine, and the trauma center was closed for 10 days last year because there weren't enough specialists to staff the facility full-time. Since, the center has been open.

Stipe said the hospital is still exploring the idea but is already actively recruiting doctors to staff the center. Stipe said the hospital is considering becoming either a level one or level two care facility. Level one is highest of four levels, and means the trauma center is staffed with trauma surgeons, orthopedic surgeons, anesthesiologists and emergency physicians 24 hours a day.

But building a new trauma center so close to the existing one could present problems, said Dr. John Fildes, the medical director for UMC's Level One Trauma Center.

"We believe a fire department is a good thing but a firehouse at every corner isn't necessarily such a good thing," Fildes said. "Right now, the 30-minute transport time surrounding UMC covers the valley."

He added, "A new trauma center should be beyond the city's boundaries and enable it to reach further and take care of more Nevadans."

Of the 11,000 patients UMC's trauma center treats each year, most live within a 30-mile radius of its West Charleston location. Fildes said that if the trauma network were to expand, it should cover a different swath of Las Vegas such as the southeast part of the city and Henderson.

Stipe disagreed with the notion that the centers are too close.

"We have only one trauma center in the city," Stipe said. "I think there's a need for redundancy. If you look at communities across the country, those that are our size have multiple trauma units."

The location of Las Vegas' next trauma center will be a large consideration for the Nevada Division of Health, the regulatory arm responsible for approving the operation of such centers.

"Transportation, staffing, average response time are all things that have to be considered as part of any application," said Lisa Jones, who works for the Nevada Division of Health in the department that licenses and certifies medical facilities. She spoke on Tuesday's "Face to Face With Jon Ralston" on Las Vegas ONE, Cox cable Channels 1 and 39.

No other hospitals in the valley have offered to start a trauma center. Mike Tymczyn, marketing director for Valley Health System, which includes Valley, Summerlin and Desert Springs hospitals, said his system has no plans to.

"We have no plans to go down that same road," Tymczyn said. "My hospitals are committed not to trauma care but to providing the best emergency care available."

Stipe said if his hospital moves forward with a trauma center it would like to do so with cooperation from UMC.

"The real interest is in the synergy of a trauma system," Stipe said.