Renovation Would Improve Provider’s Ability To Handle Multiple Trauma At KCHS

ms such as  heart attacks, car accidents and other trauma only account for 10 percent of cases treated in emergency rooms.
Many are lucky enough to never see the inside of an emergency room, but for those who need emergency care, it can be the difference between life and death.
The emergency room at the Kearney County hospital is not only outdated, but too small to provide adequate access for emergency care providers.
The proposed $10 million dollar hospital bond issue would facilitate construction and renovation that would include a two bay emergency room, procedure room, private E/R waiting area and nurses station.
The Kearney County Health Services emergency room averages nearly 700 visits per year.
Although the most critical trauma patients are stabilized and sent on, the care they receive in the KCHS emergency room is vital in the “golden hour” when  there is the highest likelihood that prompt medical treatment will prevent death.
Currently, there is only space for one patient at a time in the emergency room.  
In the instance of multiple trauma, such as a car accident, additional patients must be treated in a secondary emergency room more than eighty feet from the primary emergency room or in the hospital hallway.
KCHS Trauma Nurse Coordinator Renee Grams explained the importance of an updated  emergency room.
“In order to do really good trauma care we need some more space,” Grams said. “We’ve got the equipment, we’ve got the providers, we’ve got the education, now what we need is the space and the flow for good trauma care.”

For complete story see The Courier