A trauma center in St. Louis County is gone, leaving many Black people without nearby services

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North St. Louis County just lost its only trauma center and local advocates believe it will hurt the Black residents who relied on it. 

SSM Health, which oversees DePaul Hospital in north St. Louis County, ended its Level II trauma services this month. That means patients with serious urgent injuries will have to take longer ambulance rides to hospitals outside of the county.

The hospital will still maintain an emergency room and Level I trauma care for stroke and heart attack patients, according to KMOV. 

“You have a group of people who already don’t have access to necessary healthcare. Without a trauma center, that same group will suffer more,” LaDon Oaks, a local activist in the county told theGrio. Oaks said family members of his have been sent to the trauma center for gunshot wounds and other injuries.

In a statement sent to theGrio, SSM Health officials said that there weren’t enough patients going to the trauma center, which led to the decision to scrap it. 

“Trauma care is a highly specialized service – and medical best practice demonstrates we must treat a minimum number of patients to maintain the level of experience, training and equipment a trauma program requires,” the statement said. “Yet, only a very small percentage of individuals treated in our emergency room each year require trauma services.” 

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There are now four trauma centers in the surrounding areas. The closest one is Mercy St. Louis, which is a 16-minute drive from DePaul Hospital. 

Advocates point out that the trauma center provided important emergency services for those on Medicaid. In St. Louis County, 29% of residents are on Medicaid, according to data from Washington University in St. Louis. The county is 25% Black, according to Census data.

“If you get one gunshot per day, that’s one trauma victim that if you make a decision to transport that person, 30 minutes as opposed to 10 minutes, then you have made a life-or-death decision basically,” John Bowman, the president of the St. Louis County NAACP told St. Louis NPR.

Several national health studies point to how quick transportation to hospitals in urgent cases can save lives. A study in the National Library of Medicine concludes that “Swift transport is beneficial for patients suffering neurotrauma and the haemodynamically unstable penetratingly injured patient.” Neurotrauma is an injury that involves the nerves, brain and spine. Haemodynamic refers to injuries related to blood flow and circulation.

Without the trauma center in north St. Louis County, patients in that area will have to travel farther to get the help they need. “I’m afraid of what this is going to look like over the next year,” Oaks said. “This is a mistake [by SSM Health].”

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