RTAC (Council) IX | Regional Trauma Advisory Committees (RTAC)

Overview

A Regional Trauma Advisory Council (RTAC) is an organized group of citizens who represent all healthcare entities within a specified and clearly defined trauma Service area. These healthcare entities include all trauma facilities, physicians, nurses and EMS Providers. An RTAC is a formal organization defined by the Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission. It establishes a Trauma System Regionalization of identified EMS Regions, the primary purpose of which is to develop and implement a regional emergency medical service/trauma system plan, thereby enhancing trauma care and all relevant components thereof in addition to oversight of trauma system networking with others in Region IX.

All counties in EMS Region IX, i.e., 24 and 3 in South Carolina are included in the Region IX RTAC. The geographic area includes all counties in Georgia lying at the southern tip of eastern Georgia, those bordering the Atlantic Ocean up to and including Chatham County, westward as far as Coffee County; and including Beaufort, Jasper and Hampton counties in South Carolina.

There are 20 hospitals within Region IX and three referring centers in Southeast South Carolina. One of the hospitals, Memorial University Medical Center, is state designated as meeting Level I criteria (Appendix A).

Region IX presents distinct challenges insofar as the geography size and resources appropriated to a rural setting. Concurrently, there are no Level II, III, or IV centers in the service area. Seventy-five percent (75%) of Region IX counties are located at least 50 miles beyond a Georgia trauma center, thus increasing exponentially the potential for mortality from a serious injury.

With the advent and development of a Regional Trauma Advisory Council for Region IX and adjacent South Carolina counties, communications between the provider(s) and hospital(s) are ultimate goals and thus, improvement in the quality of care.

MISSION STATEMENT

The primary mission of the Regional Trauma Advisory Council for Region IX is to address trauma system development, assist member organizations in attaining trauma designation or re-designation and provide oversight to ensure the quality of care and patient safety.
In doing so the Regional Trauma Advisory Council will:

1. Encourage multi-community participation in providing trauma care. Ensuring the most efficient, consistent, and expeditious care or each individual who experiences an acute injury.
2. Enhance assessment, triage, and communication between pre-hospital providers and hospitals to facilitate treatment and transportation of patients to the most appropriate trauma facility.
3. Attain funding resources for medical and public trauma education and awareness
4. Develop and maintain integrated quality processes in patient care, research, education and prevention

VISION:

We will be the model regional trauma, disaster, and emergency healthcare system in the United States, which will result in the lowest risk-adjusted mortality for emergency healthcare.

Contact Information:

Stephanie Gendron, MPA

4700 Waters Ave, Savannah, GA 31403

Office: 912.350.8055

Cell: 912.704.9188

Fax: 912.350.3122

Gendrst1@memorialhealth.com

Committees:

Education:

Chair: Anna Maria Anderson- Liberty Regional EMS; annamaria_anderson@yahoo.com

Co-Chair: Laura Hunnewell- Effingham Hospital; hunnela@effinghamhospital.org

Co-Chair: Logan Warren- United EMS; logan.e.warren@gmail.com

Injury Prevention:

Chair: Keliesha Jones- Safe Kids Savannah; JonesKe4@memorialhealth.com

Co-Chair: Connie Bowers- Coffee Regional Medical Center; Connie.Bowers@coffeeregional.org

Co-Chair: Jenny Thompson- Coffee Regional Medical Center; jenny.thompson@coffeeregional.org

Medical Oversight:

Chair: Dr. James Dunne- Memorial University Medical Center

Pre-Hospital:

Chair: Donald Mixon- Air-Evac; Donald.Mixon@air-evac.com

Co-Chair: Susan Malone- Coastal Health District; Susan.Malone@dph.ga.gov

Quality Assurance and Process Improvement:

Chair: Lisa Bowers- Memorial University Medical Center; BowerLi1@memorialhealth.com

RTAC IX Members Include:

Air Evac Lifeteam

Appling Hospital

Bryan County Emergency Services

Coastal Health District

Coffee Regional Medical Center

Effingham Hospital

Evans Memorial Hospital

Glynn County Fire Dept.

Liberty Regional EMS

Liberty Regional Medical Center

Memorial University Medical Center

Okefenokee EMS

Safe Kids Savannah

Savannah Technical College

Southside Fire/EMS

United EMS

Winn Army Community Hospital

Most Recent Postings in RTAC (Council) IX: