SSM Health cutting level 2 trauma services at DePaul Hospital on Sept 10, 2023, will leave North St. Louis County without a hospital designated to treat urgent severe injuries like those from gunshots, stabbings, or car crashes, according to St. Louis County NAACP President John Bowman.
“The decision to suspend trauma services to North St. Louis County is irresponsible and disheartening,” Bowman said in the statement.
Because ambulances will no longer take those patients to DePaul, patients may have to endure additional minutes of trauma until taken to other hospitals.
Level II trauma centers are required to have immediate access to general surgeons. The decision, according to a statement from DePaul Hospital, was based on the small percentage of individuals who required trauma services in its emergency room.
“Trauma care is a highly-specialized service — and medical best practice shows we must treat a minimum number of patients to maintain the level of experience, training and equipment a trauma program requires,” the SSM statement read.
Bowman is also alarmed because of the density of Medicaid recipients that reside in the county.
The organization released a statement Monday expressing its concerns.
“To date, St. Louis County houses one of the largest populations of underserved people receiving or enrolled in Missouri’s Medicaid program,” he said.
“To dismiss the effect of scaled-back trauma services to those receiving state-funded services is detrimental to the lifeblood of North St. Louis County.”
Bowman added that transporting patients to other hospitals may take “from 10 minutes to 30 minutes more” which could be fatal for some trauma patients.
Last week, Mark Flauter, chief medical officer for the Florissant Valley Fire Protection District, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that SSM Health’s decision will have devastating consequences.
“Up in North County, that is our closest facility to take significant, traumatic injuries. It leaves a significant hole in the North County area, for care of trauma patients.”
Bowman, who also serves as a director of the Northeast Ambulance and Emergency Fire District, agrees.
“I can speak to the volume of emergency calls in this area. We have one of the busiest districts in North County.”
Bowman stressed that when trauma patients are sent to Christian Hospital Northeast in St. Louis County, they are immediately referred to DePaul.
“We have more shootings, more stabbings and more car accidents in north county so I am very concerned about the impact of this decision.”
Bowman concedes that there is validity to the health agency’s argument.
“Doctors do have to perform a certain level of these cases. Experience creates levels where they are better at their work. But how are we going to make these adjustments when it comes to the travel and expenses of fire districts because they have to go longer distances to stabilize a person until they get them that far away,” he said.
Bowman said exploring all viable options to make sure North St. Louis County residents receive appropriate trauma careis imperative.
In 2022, Bowman said SSM Health committed to the “Building Strong Communities” initiativewith community partners, like his organization and other stakeholders.
“It was designed so that the community can have a voice and input in some of these higher-level decisions. Don’t let us hear about this on the news like everybody else.”
Bowman said he’s asking that the healthcare agency live up to its commitment.
“We invite SSM Health to uphold its commitment to ‘expand access to affordable care, enhance social-based programs, provide communities with the tools needed to live a healthier life’ and uphold its promise to ‘focus a significant amount of its social work on the underserved,’” Bowman wrote in his press statement.
His wish is that elected officials and other community leaders sit down with SSM Health representatives to seriously explore the challenges and any viable solutions.
“Let’s get together and brainstorm on what’s a viable choice other than just shutting it down because north of 270 this is the only trauma service we have and when you say ‘north county’ you know exactly what that means…it’s healthcare disparity.
“I’m hopeful we can come up with a solution…that’s our goal but make no mistake about it; this is a serious matter.”
