Nearby Hospitals Take on Closed Trauma Center’s Patients

Surrounding hospitals appear to have successfully picked up the slack in medical care in the first week after the closure of the trauma center at St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank.

Figures supplied by other institutions showed that at least seven seriously injured people who normally would have been treated at St. Joseph were taken elsewhere.

But while the other hospitals were able to shoulder the additional load after the June 19 closure, medical personnel at several facilities warned that there could be trouble ahead. There typically is a much greater demand for emergency room services around holidays and in the winter.

“We’re definitely going to see more trauma patients,” said Dr. John McConnellogue, the medical director of the emergency room at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, whose trauma center received two patients over the weekend that would have gone to St. Joseph. “We can handle it as far as personnel. The only thing is whether the hospital can keep sustaining the losses.”

Created in 1984

The trauma network was created in 1984. But eight hospitals have pulled out of the network, often accusing the state and federal government of failing to reimburse them for health care services. They also blame the cost of treating indigent patients, who cannot afford to pay for their care.

St. Joseph said it lost $1.5 million annually. Despite the closure, officials emphasized that their emergency room remains open. The difference between an emergency room and a trauma center is that a trauma center alone has surgeons and anesthesiologists on duty full time to handle life-threatening injuries.

Remaining trauma centers near St. Joseph are Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, Northridge Hospital Medical Center and Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills.

Holy Cross spokeswoman Pam Kouba said three trauma patients were brought in during the past week that normally would have gone to St. Joseph. All survived.

Two were taken to Huntington, including Aimee Larson, 71, who was badly injured in an automobile accident on the Glendale Freeway. Despite being diverted from St. Joseph, paramedics succeeded in getting her to Huntington within the 20-minute county guideline. She was in critical condition Monday.

Meeting Demands

While the surrounding hospitals absorbed the increase in patients this past week, the question is whether they can continue to meet those demands over time. Huntington already has expressed reluctance about having its “catchment area”--the zone of territory from which it accepts trauma patients--expanded to include St. Joseph territory.

“The only thing we received was a request from the county to expand our catchment area,” said spokeswoman Peg Kean. “We said we could not.” At the same time, she said, no trauma patients would be turned away.

St. Joseph served nearly 700 trauma cases a year. Spreading those out among the other hospitals will tax them, officials said. McConnellogue said Northridge already is losing nearly $1 million a year on its trauma care; he said that amount likely will go up.

None of the other hospitals is threatening to pull out of the system. Kean said hospital officials are evaluating their participation in the trauma network “on a regular basis. To date, we have decided to stay in. We can’t guarantee we will stay in forever.”