July 19, 2016 4:03 PM

Trauma community proposes greater coordination for major disaster events

Questions are as fundamental as “How do we communicate to the paramedics how to take the patient to the right hospital at the right time for the right outcome?”

The recent horrific ambush of Dallas police hung heavily in the air as Rep. Four Price’s appropriations subcommittee took up the issue of trauma funding across Texas.

Surgeon Kenneth Mattax, who literally wrote the book on trauma care, told Price’s panel on Article II that the shootings in Dallas had Houston leaders conferring almost immediately about how the region would respond to a similar event. That only occurs because of the state’s regional collaborative network.

“As the tragedy in Dallas happened…at the two trauma centers in Houston, the leadership came together and said, what do we do when we’re overwhelmed? What do we do together?” said Mattax, chief of staff at Ben Taub Hospital. “And let’s prepare and be ready. Although, we’d just gone through drills in recent times.”

That regional response was not always the default plan of attack. Mattax admitted the hospital systems were known for their big egos before the regional advisory councils were created in 1989.

In her own testimony before the committee, Associate Commissioner Kathy Perkins – who spearheaded the creation of the regional network – said the state still faces challenges to create a seamless system, especially with the current pressure put on regional hospitals.

By Kimberly Reeves