Medical Center of the Rockies achieves Level I trauma designation

LOVELAND — High-level trauma patients in Northern Colorado no longer will need to be transferred to Denver-area hospitals, except in extraordinary circumstances.

That’s because UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies has received the state Level I trauma designation, the only hospital north of Denver and one of only six in the state to be so designated.

UCHealth reported the designation this morning, an effort that has been underway since MCR was opened in 2007. Previously, the hospital carried a Level II trauma designation.

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MCR joins UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora, UCHealth Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs, Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood and Denver Health as Level I trauma centers.

While MCR’s designation is from the state, a federal designation through the American College of Surgeons is in process and may take another year.

Little will change in MCR operations now that the designation is official. That’s because leading up to the designation, the hospital had meet certain standards for years, said Dr. Warren Dorlac, the hospital’s trauma medical director. 

Level I signals “the highest standard of practice in our trauma community.”

Some of the criteria is out of the control of the hospital — volume of patients and severity of injuries, for example.

Dorlac said the hospital met the volume of patients criteria last year, when 1,853 patients who met trauma registry inclusion were treated. That number is double the 880 patients in that category treated in 2007, the year the hospital opened.

Level I trauma hospitals can treat severe and complex injuries and are required to have around-the-clock coverage by trauma surgeons and prompt availability of specialists in orthopedics, neurosurgery and anesthesiology, among others, according to information provided by UCHealth.

Level I trauma designation brings with it additional responsibilities, including a research component and outreach to lower-level trauma centers and communities that they serve. Dr. Chris Cribari, acute care surgery medical director for UCHealth Medical Group, said the hospital has worked for years to establish relationships with those other hospitals and help them with education and technique. 

In the area served by nine-county regional emergency medical and trauma advisory council — or RETAC — as well as areas of Wyoming and Nebraska, patients will now be directed to MCR instead of the metro area for nearly all trauma treatment, Cribari said. 

“Some injuries may still need specialty care,” he said. He listed severe eye injury, for example, or replantation of limbs, which is done at only one place in Colorado, Denver Health.

Dorlac cited the “huge village” necessary to make Level I care work, including transport, emergency medicine, surgical teams, the blood bank, therapy and more.

Hudson Kane, who was 17 in February 2021 when he experienced a severe traffic accident, survived and is recovering but required 13 minutes of CPR, a “massive transfusion protocol,” and surgeries to repair broken bones and remove part of his brain to alleviate swelling.

“Within days, he opened his eyes, and the staff here celebrated just as much as we were,” said his mother, Tawni Kane.

Likewise, Minh Anh Nguyen, severely injured in another traffic accident five months ago, came through and was able to walk to the lectern to thank her caregivers. “You gave me a second chance to be a person again,” she said.

“Every minute matters when it comes to trauma care,” Cribari said. “People can rest assured that they’re in good hands closer to home.”