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Orange Park Medical Center gets permanent “trauma center” status

“It can mean the difference between life and death outcomes.”

Orange Park Medical Center has now earned a permanent designation as a Level II trauma center, after operating with provisional status since May 2016. The Trauma Medical Director Miren Schinco says this ensures they can focus on helping the community and looking at how to grow.

“That means that we’ll be a permanent member of this community,” she says.

The “trauma center” designation allows the facility to receive the most critical patients from the field. Without the designation, trauma patients transported by paramedics were brought to UF Health- which has the designation. Since OPMC gained provisional status, they’ve been able to provide those critical patients quicker care.

“There is a golden hour in the trauma world, which means that the clock starts ticking at the time of injury, and the sooner the patient can get to receive their care, the better off they are. It can mean the difference between life and death outcomes,” Schinco says.

OPMC has been in a long-running fight to get this designation, and the permanent status comes after Florida Governor Rick Scott signed action in to law which changed how the state limits the number of trauma centers in a region. Since they started operating with provisional status, OPMC estimates they’ve treated around 3,000 patients who would have otherwise had to travel Downtown.

To have the trauma center designation, OPMC ensures 24/7 coverage by trauma surgeons, an array of subspecialists, a designated operating room, and a fully staffed ICU, among other things. Being a Level II facility means they do not function as a trauma center for pediatric patients, and to not have an education, outreach, and research program that’s as robust as a Level I.

Schinco says she would like to work toward Level I designation, and they’re already looking at starting a surgical residency program as part of their growth.

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