Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville submitted its application at the end of November to upgrade to a level one trauma center.
The medical center has been designated as a level two trauma facility since 2013. The main changes begin with educating new doctors, nurses, surgeons and psychiatrists. Certification as a level one trauma center provides a major selling point in attracting medical industry professionals, allowing the medical center to focus on research and resident training.
Trauma Program Director Jesse Gibson said they have been operating as a high-functioning and high-volume level two center, servicing both the state of Georgia and the nation at large. After doing their due diligence, Gibson and her team decided it was time to gain level one certification.
“We formed a level one exploration group where we looked at what this would do to our volumes, what this would do, you know, just kind of the impact on our organization, on our community, and on our state trauma system, really,” Gibson said. “And the decision was unanimous that everyone felt that we were positioned to go ahead and pursue level one trauma center verification.”
Trauma and Acute Care Surgery Director Matt Vassy said upgrading the facility’s certification level is in line with the medical center’s goals of providing substantial and meaningful care for the community.
“We want this to be a destination that's attractive to good physicians,” Vassy said. “And that's one of the advantages of becoming a level one trauma center as opposed to operating as a very high functioning level two trauma center, as we've been doing, is that it, it just fosters that mission, it puts us in a position to not just give good quality care, but research on the latest and most effective ways to improve our quality of care moving forward.”
Having a level one certification is necessary in order to attract the best medical talent, according to Vassy. The medical center hopes to provide nearly every subspecialty in-house, with the goal of keeping northeast Georgia residents satisfied with their service. Vassy and Gibson both believe moving into a level one certification is a natural progression for the medical center and attracting more medical professionals will improve the quality of care offered.
The medical center conducted a two-day virtual visit in their application for the trauma level upgrade and the results are expected to come sometime in spring 2023.
Gibson said being able to provide excellent service to the community and allowing patients and their families the opportunity to stay in Gainesville fills her with pride.
“I'm from this community,” Gibson said. “And it means a lot to me to know that my family or myself, we will receive the highest level of care right here at home. And, you know, we saw patients who were transferred out of this area years ago before we became a trauma center. And that was just a real challenge for families to have to head down to Atlanta and travel back and forth.”
Vassy is hopeful that through the certification process, the medical center can continue to improve its care while reaching the service and research goals they have laid out.
“I think it really underlines the importance of striving to always be better,” Vassy said. “And that's one of the, that's one of the pillars of the hospital system that we talked about. One of the core values is better—better tomorrow than today. And that's what the verification process really requires of us."
