-
UTMC
MOST EMERGENCY ROOM VISITS—even those for a painful injury—do not require trauma care. However, for patients who do arrive with critical wounds, having a dedicated trauma team at the ready is extremely important, said Dr. Aela Vely, a fellowship-trained trauma surgeon and medical director for trauma and surgical critical care at The University of Toledo Medical Center.
As a provisional Level II trauma center, UTMC is prepared to provide life-saving care for the most serious injuries 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
“Every single day at every minute, the trauma attending on call has to be ready that at any moment they might hear that alert overhead and they need to drop everything they’re doing,” Vely said. “Whatever they’re thinking, whatever’s going on, that’s out—they just need to focus on what’s happening with this particular patient.”
“Not long ago there was some uncertainty about the future of this hospital. The community really rallied around UTMC. They recognized we are so important to them. We heard that,” Vely said. “Part of our commitment to the community was improving our trauma service.”
Working closely with providers and staff across departments from the emergency room to the operating room, the newly expanded trauma team at UTMC is well prepared to care for the most complex trauma cases.
When those patients arrive—suffering from severe and life-threatening injuries from car crashes, falls, industrial accidents, and other traumatic events—UTMC’s team is ready to treat them.
In some cases, UTMC trauma surgeons may only assist other emergency department personnel in searching for potentially life-threatening complications, such as a lacerated liver in an otherwise stable car-crash victim.
In a full trauma activation, the trauma surgeon runs the entire case, potentially operating within minutes of a patient’s arrival.
“They are responsible for that patient. They make the decisions and sometimes need to operate without knowing what they will find,” Vely said. “We have very little time to decide what needs to be done next, and then we need to fix it.”
For Vely, who joined UTMC in August of 2021, that spontaneity and the potential to make a drastic difference for someone is what drew her to specializing in trauma surgery.
“Most days you aren’t going to have a major case, but when it comes in, you have to be ready. We as trauma surgeons have a unique opportunity to save someone’s life,” she said. “We’ve assembled a great team of surgeons, anesthesiologists, advance practice providers, and nurses, and I’m proud of the way we’ve prepared ourselves to serve our community. We’re evermore at the ready.”
UTMC will operate under provisional status until its next visit from the American College of Surgeons in the next year.
Tyrel Linkhorn is a communications specialist at The University of Toledo. ✲
After two years as a Level III trauma center, UTMC announced last year it was seeking provisional approval to operate as a Level II trauma center. The state officially granted that request in early May.
