Sunrise urges support for trauma center

Stephen Curran

Monday, June 7, 2004 | 11:36 a.m.

Saying it represented one of Clark County's "most critical health care decisions," officials from Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center rolled out a public relations blitz Friday to drum up support for their proposed trauma center, which would be the second in Southern Nevada.

While a Clark County task force could weigh in on the proposal today, Sunrise officials on Friday explained why they think another high-level trauma center is needed, including the rapid growth of the area and redundancy, in case the area's sole existing trauma center at University Medical Center is forced to close or stop accepting patients.

Sunrise officials say their hospital, located about three miles east of UMC, would be a logical place for another high-level trauma center. But county and UMC officials dispute that claim, and add that a second center at Sunrise would take so many trauma patients that it would hurt financially the county-run UMC.

The county Health District's Trauma System Assessment Citizen's Task Force will meet at noon today to discuss and possibly vote on whether to recommend whether or not an additional trauma center is needed and, if so, at what level and where should it be. The task force could delay making its recommendation until a June 14 meeting.

Their recommendation is slated to go to the County Health Board on June 24. The board will then decide on its recommendation to the State Division of Health, which has ultimate decision-making power.

With only one trauma center in the Las Vegas Valley -- at UMC -- Southern Nevada is the metropolitan area least prepared to take care of its trauma patients, according to a 2003 survey by the National Inventory of Hospital Trauma Centers.

On average, states build one trauma center for every 500,000 residents, according to the study.

Southern Nevada, home to about 1.9 million people, also represents the greatest physical difference between trauma centers, researchers found.

"The issue is that it (the UMC trauma center) is overwhelmed," said Dr. Michael Metzler, the medical director of trauma services at Sunrise, expressing a view disputed by those at UMC.

Metzler was recruited from the University of Missouri at Columbia along with Greg Bishop, president of Irvine, Calif.-based Bishop+Associates, to lead Sunrise's effort to open a trauma center. So far, Sunrise has spent almost $4 million to $5 million preparing for a level II trauma center, Sunrise CEO Brian Robinson said.

Metzler dismissed a report by the Abaris Group, a consulting firm hired by the task force to study the issue, which stated that a level II trauma center at Sunrise would drain money from UMC. The firm suggested a level III trauma center be opened at St. Rose Dominican Hospital's Siena Campus in Henderson.

St. Rose is asking to become a level III trauma center, which means the hospital would have surgeons available, or nearby and on call, around the clock.

In a level II trauma center, which Sunrise is offering, the hospital would have trauma surgeons and other trauma staff at the hospital at all times.

UMC is a level I trauma center, which means that it has everything a level II trauma center does, and does teaching and research.

Sunrise's plan would establish a collaborative system between the two hospitals, which would keep either facility from becoming strained, Metzler said.

Dr. John Fildes, medical director for the UMC trauma center, said Metzler's claim overestimated the need in the Las Vegas Valley.

"Our city's trauma services are not in crisis," Fildes said. "The question is whether it (having a trauma center at Sunrise) is the best decision for the community."

Having two high-level trauma centers so close to each other would be a short-sighted solution, with neither facility having enough patients to stay afloat financially, Fildes said.

A more efficient solution would be to place lower-level centers throughout Clark County as part of a "trauma system" similar to fire or police department substations, he said.

"Placing two high-level centers so close together is not wise," Fildes said. "There is a risk that instead of having two good trauma centers we'll have two struggling to exist."

Fildes estimated the daily operations costs of a Level 1 trauma center -- the most sophisticated -- in the millions of dollars, much of which goes toward the more than 100 doctors, nurses and technicians who work there.

Metzler said the Abaris report failed to take the Las Vegas Valley's explosive growth into account. But Abaris and UMC officials say the report follows past trends that show the number of trauma cases remaining relatively flat while population growth exploded.

Metzler also said a trauma center at Sunrise would provide a back-up in case something happened to UMC's center.

"The Abaris report ignores the whole issue of redundancy," he said, referring to a need for a back-up system. "This is something that's needed here. The future is collaboration, not confrontation."